The Dallas County district attorney’s office on Friday dismissed a child abandonment charge against Sini Mathews, the adoptive mother of Sherin Mathews, the Indian three-year-old found dead in a culvert in October 2017.
Sini Mathews has been released from prison after serving 15 months in jail. The charges were dropped due to insufficient evidence against her.
“After an extensive investigation, it was found that the state cannot prove this matter beyond a reasonable doubt at this time,” reads a motion filed by prosecutors and signed by state District Judge Amber Givens-Davis.
Sini and her husband Wesley, natives of Kerala, adopted Sherin from an orphanage in Bihar in July 2016. Sherin disappeared on October 7, 2017, and Wesley at first claimed that he had sent her out in the wee hours of the morning as punishment for not drinking her milk.
On October 22, 2017, Sherin’s body was recovered from a culvert under a road about a kilometer from the Mathews’ home. The cause of Sherin’s death could not be investigated as the body had decomposed.
Wesley later changed his version, claiming that when he made an attempt to feed her, Sherin had choked on her milk. He also admitted that the family had gone out to a dinner party and left Sherin behind, a day before she died.
Wesley was charged for capital murder by a grand jury and for meddling with evidence. While Sini was charged with endangering a child.
Heath Harris, Sini’s attorney, told the media that he did not expect Sini to testify against Wesley. “This has been a tragic accident for this family and now she’s just trying to get back to her other child,” he said.
Harris added that they would now fight to get Sini her passport back, have her visitation rights to her biological child, and ultimately have her parental rights back. However, according to Child Protection Services, parental rights, once terminated, are permanently done away with.
While Sini has been released from jail and will be reunited with her biological who is living with relatives in Houston, Wesley is still in prison for capital murder in relation to Sherin’s death. He will face trial in May this year and is presently being held on a USD 1 million bond.
If Sini was convicted in this case, she would have faced imprisonment from two to 20 years. Further, as she has been dismissed without prejudice, the same or different charges can still be leveled against her at any point of time.
“The Richardson Police Department … conducted a thorough investigation of the Sherin Mathews case and developed sufficient probable cause to obtain an arrest warrant for Sini Mathews. While we are disappointed with this turn of events, we will continue to work with the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office to ensure justice is done,” they said in a written statement.
The police department also said they will continue to work on the case.
-Sowmya
