One Year Old Child Murdered by Mother for Not Saying 'Amen'

Posted by LisaJ, Pharyngula at 3:04 PM on August 18, 2008.

Wow. Now here's a story that just disturbed me to no end. Little Javon Thompson's mother, 21 year old Ria Ramkissoon, became a Christian at a young age, but when her local pastor disappointed her by pleading guilty to molesting young boys, she left her church and was taken in instead by what is now being described as a dangerous religious cult (I'd like to make the point that even plain 'ole regular Christianity is a dangerous cult, but that's beside the point). This cult, called 1 Mind Ministries, is headed by a 40 year old, I'm assuming woman, who calls herself Queen Antoinette, and it appears that the relatively small group lives together and operates under the extremely god-driven Queen's direction.



What happened to Javon, Ms. Ramkissoon's little boy, in 2005 is what has me so disturbed. The ONE year old child was denied food and water for two days because he wouldn't say "Amen" after finishing his meals. This outrageous punishment killed him, and none of his caretakers intervened to save him. Police say that the group viewed this child as a demon, and that they left his lifeless body in a backroom of their apartment for more than a week while they simply prayed to god to raise Javon from the dead. Instead, the boy's body began to decompose and no resurrection occurred, obviously.

Reportedly, after the cult members accepted that Javon would not be resurrected they stuffed his body in a suitcase. His mother lovingly added mothballs and fabric softener to the contents of the suitcase, and occasionally sprayed some disinfectant inside. The case, with the child's body still inside, was found earlier this year, after it had been stored behind a home in Philadelphia when the cult relocated to New York City, over a year earlier.



Javon's mother Ria and four other cult members face first degree murder charges in this case. Ria's mother, however, contests that her daughter was brainwashed by the cult. Her attorney has recently declared that "the members of this cult, who were more than twice her age, were calling the shots," and that "she bought the program hook, line and sinker." So because this young woman was reportedly brainwashed, does this then mean that she should not be prosecuted with her child's murder? To put this into perspective for myself, I was raised catholic, and there are certainly many faulty decisions I made while growing up that I consider to largely be the fault of my indoctrinated mindset. But murder? I have a really hard time swallowing the brainwashing excuse as justifying your active involvement in your child's murder. And besides, even if her supposed brainwashing is really at fault here, someone this stupid to allow someone to talk her into effectively killing her child, under the guise of god, should be put away where she is no longer a danger to herself or anyone else.



This disturbing story highlights perfectly the dangers that society faces for teaching people to believe in whatever god they're confronted with, instead of thinking for themselves.

Tagged as: religion, child abuse, murder, cult, cruel and unusual