Philadelphia: Boy Starved for not saying 'Amen'

Boy starved for not saying 'amen'

5:00AM Wednesday August 13, 2008



A toddler whose remains were found inside a suitcase in Philadelphia this year was starved to death by members of a religious cult, including his mother, in part because he refused to say "amen" after meals, police said.


Ria Ramkissoon, the mother of Javon Thompson, was charged on Monday with first-degree murder, and Baltimore police said yesterday three other members of a group called 1 Mind



Ministries had also been charged with first-degree murder.


Police and Ramkissoon's family say the group is a cult.


Members did not seek medical care for Javon when he stopped breathing, and the boy died in his mother's arms, according to court documents that described police interviews with a confidential informant and two children.


He would have been about 15 months old when police say adults stopped feeding him in December 2006.


Ramkissoon, 21, was being held yesterday in a psychiatric ward. The three other people charged in Javon's death - Queen Antoinette, 40, also known as Toni Ellsberry or Toni Sloan; Marcus Cobbs, 21; and Trevia Williams, who turns 21 today - were already in custody. They were arrested in May in New York City on warrants charging them with failure to appear in court in Baltimore.

hose charges stemmed from a scuffle with police in a child custody dispute.


A fifth alleged cult member, Steven Bynum, has been charged in a warrant with first-degree murder and remains at large.


Ramkissoon's family said she should not be held responsible for her son's death.
"She had no control over that situation at all," her stepfather, Craig Newton, said.


Ramkissoon's mother, Seeta Khadan-Newton, told the Baltimore Sun it was not her daughter's decision not to feed the boy.


"My daughter was a victim, just like my grandson," Khadan-Newton said. "Somebody made that decision to not feed that child, and my daughter had to follow instructions."


Ramkissoon's mother last saw her daughter in April 2006; she later sued for custody of her grandson.



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The answer - sterilize them all.



Life in prison + 100 years, to ensure they never are released.



Everyone has a choice. Everyone has an option. No one forces you. Go out one day, call the police. No one stops you from doing the right thing.



No one.





























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