St James mother whose children died in house fire gets six months in prison

A mother whose two children perished in a fire at their home in Paradise, Norwood, St James in November 2019 has been sentenced to six months' imprisonment for child neglect.

Justice Judith Pusey sentenced 32-year-old Shantel Brown last week Friday when she appeared in the St James Parish Court.

Brown's two sons, eight-year-old Javanchi Palmer and one-year-old Tyler McLeod, died in the fire.

Two of Brown's children who managed to escape were also injured in the fire, which gutted the one-bedroom board house.

The prosecution, represented by Crown Counsel Renelle Morgan, had argued that Brown had left all four children unprotected in the house.

On the night of November 1, 2019, the police reported that Brown and other persons were seen drinking and gallivanting along a roadway in the community.

The police told them to go home but when they returned to the location about 30 minutes later Brown and her friends had returned to the street and were drinking and having fun.

While Brown was having fun, an alarm was raised that her house was on fire.

After firefighters put out the fire, the charred remains of the two children were found inside the house.

The social enquiry report disclosed that Brown cared for her children.

Residents in the community described her as an excessive drinker and one who loved to go to parties.

Attorney-at-law Albert Morgan, who represented Brown, asked the judge to be lenient and to bear in mind the fact that she had accepted responsibility.

Morgan said Brown seemed to have a problem with substance abuse and required intervention.

Pusey, in passing sentence, said a non-custodial sentence was inappropriate because the incident was avoidable.

The judge said she took into account the fact that Brown had pleaded guilty.

The judge ordered that Brown should undergo substance treatment while serving her sentence.

- Barbara Gayle

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