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The 38-year-old woman from Michigan was reported to the police when her son expressed concern for his younger brother, who was later found on Daytona Beach in Florida
The child was found in the waves and could have drowned if he had not been rescued. (News18 Hindi)
In a shocking incident in Florida, a mother left her one-year-old son on the seashore, where he almost drowned.
Shamika Mitchell was sentenced to 15 years in prison after being found guilty of child abuse and unlawful abandonment of a child. The 38-year-old woman from Michigan was reported to the police when her elder son expressed concern for his younger brother, who was later found on Daytona Beach in Florida.
Judge Karen Foxman of the Seventh Judicial Circuit of Florida stated that Mitchell had been using marijuana, alcohol, and possibly methamphetamine while caring for the child. The child was found in the waves and could have drowned if he had not been rescued.
The court heard from Mitchell’s defence attorney, who claimed she had endured an extremely difficult childhood and was suffering from mental illness.
On 8 November 2023, Mitchell was seen walking on the beach with her young child just before midnight. Five minutes later, she passed the same spot, as captured by surveillance cameras, but this time without the child.
Her eldest son reportedly called 911 and told officers, “She sent my little brother somewhere. She said he was with his dad. I kept asking her to show me proof, but she’s not showing me any… I really think my mum is possessed. I’m asking her to show me proof because I know she’s been going through a lot lately.”
According to a Law and Crime report, a stranger found the child before serious harm could be done. “The man who rescued the child told Daytona Beach Police that the child was on his hands and knees in the water, his hands buried up to his wrists in the sand, and the waves were crashing over his head,” a police report stated.
When police arrived, the boy was breathing slowly and was unresponsive. He was taken to Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children and made a full recovery.
Mitchell has five children, aged between one and 17. In December 2023, just two months after the incident, she was arrested, and the children were placed in foster care.
Their grandmother, Valerie Mitchell, travelled to Florida to get them back. “I have contacted everyone, and I need help. My grandchildren want to come home,” she said.
