By FARRAH JOHNSON
Tribune Staff Reporter
fjohnson@tribunemedia.net
A SUPREME Court judge recently sentenced a woman who in 2019 abducted four boys and attempted to kidnap a fifth one to three years’ probation.
De’Edra Gibson received the sentence as part of a plea deal when she pleaded guilty to four counts of child stealing and a single count of attempted child stealing during her trial before Senior Justice Bernard Turner.
Police said Gibson abducted the four little boys, one as young as three, from various places in New Providence between February and March of 2019.
Yesterday, prosecutor Destiny McKinney told The Tribune that Gibson, who has a history of mental health issues, must attend outpatient services at the Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre regularly as part of her supervised probation. She also said SRC must also send regular reports of her attendance and progress to the court.
Ms McKinney said a relative must also be appointed to ensure that Gibson takes her medication on a regular basis.
In April 2019, Gibson was charged before Magistrate Samuel McKinney with abducting three eight-year-old boys and a three-year-old.
During her initial arraignment, her attorney at the time told Magistrate McKinney that the accused had a history of mental health issues and had even spent some time in the psychiatric ward of Brookdale University Hospital in New York a year earlier.
At the time, he also said he had received legal instructions from Gibson that ranged from “incomprehensible” to “bizarre”.
As a result, Magistrate McKinney remanded the woman to SRC and adjourned the matter to have a psychiatric report on her mental fitness presented to the court. That psychiatric report revealed she was in fact fit to plead to the charges.
Gibson was later granted $20,000 bail with two sureties by Justice Gregory Hilton.
Nonetheless, that same year, she was again arraigned before Magistrate Samuel McKinney on a single count of attempted child stealing. At the time, Gibson broke down in tears and blamed the “lodge” for “plotting” against her.
As part of her plea deal, Gibson is also required to report to court twice a year during the bond of probation for a progress report starting in January 2022. If she commits another offence during her probation, she could risk spending two years at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.
Gibson initially faced the potential maximum of 10 years imprisonment for the offences.
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