Sini, the foster mother of the three-year-old Indian girl Sherin Mathews, who was mysteriously found dead under a culvert in Richardson town, Dallas, was arrested on Thursday (November 16) after the police alleged that the couple had left the child alone at home the night before the toddler went reportedly missing.
Sini Mathews, her husband Wesley and their biological daughter went out for dinner on October 6, leaving Sherin in the kitchen, supposedly because she refused to drink her milk, as reported by the Texas police.
The arrest warrant affidavit mentions that the phone records of Wesley and Sini Mathews were used by detectives to show that the couple went to North Garland restaurant, on the evening of October 6. The police also found a receipt, showing the couple, purchased only one child’s meal in addition to their individual meals. The information was corroborated by a waiter’s testimony who said that only one child was present with the couple. The Mathews told the police that Sherin was alive when they returned home from dinner; however, the police has not confirmed it yet.
The police said that they are yet to determine whether Sherin was alive when they returned home an hour and-a-half later. Richardson Police said in a Facebook post that that they were still working to find the cause behind her death.
Sini, a 35-year-old Indian origin-American registered nurse, has been held on charge of abandoning or endangering a child, a state felony, which is punishable by confinement of six months to two years. She was held in the Richardson jail after being escorted by her attorney to the Richardson police station. The bail has been set at $250, 000. Sini, who works at the Children’s Medical Centre in Dallas, could face additional charges later.
Sherin (Saraswati in India) was reported missing by her Indian origin-American adoptive father Wesley on October 7, who was later, arrested by the police and is currently lodged in the Dallas County Jail on charges of injury to child. His bail has been set at $ 1 million and the crime is punishable with upto 99 years in jail.
Wesley, from the beginning had been shifting his statements regarding the death of the child. He had earlier told the police that the child went missing after he sent her outside at 3 am for not drinking her milk. He later changed his story and told the police that he had “physically assisted” Sherin with her milk and admitted to removing her body after she choked to death.
—India Legal Bureau