Woman charged with murdering girl

ST JOHN’S (CMC):

A 20-year-old Hispanic women accused of murdering a nine-year-old school girl, appeared in the St John’s Magistrates’ Court on Monday, as police maintained a heightened presence in a bid to ward off people, calling for the immediate death sentenced to be imposed on her.

Angela Mejia appeared before Magistrate Ngaio Emanuel without legal representation and has been remanded to His Majesty’s Prison, where she has been placed in isolation.

She will return to court on June 4.

Police say Mejia admitted to killing the Five Islands Primary School student, Chantel Crump, and led authorities to the location where the body was found in Weatherills last week.

Crump was last seen alive last Wednesday when she was taken into a vehicle while heading home from school, with police reporting she waved to her friends from the vehicle.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Gaston Browne has confirmed that his administration is renewing its request for external assistance to bolster local law enforcement efforts in investigating recent homicides.

Speaking on his weekly radio programme, Browne said that the government had previously sought support from Scotland Yard to aid in solving outstanding murder cases, including the recent tragic killing of Crump, and is now pushing to expedite the process.

“I know that the Ministry of Legal Affairs, with the assistance of Foreign Affairs, had written to Scotland Yard to assist us with two females who were killed sometime last year.

“I’m told that there may have been some delays. I am not aware of precisely what created this delay, but I’ve asked him to kindly renew the request to get Foreign Affairs to renew the request and to try and get them here as soon as possible because we want to demonstrate to the Antiguan public that we’re utilising all resources available to us, including external assistance,” Browne said.