Mother will admit killing boy: lawyer

An Edmonton mother will admit she killed her sevenyear-old son when she faces a hearing to determine if she is criminally responsible for the death, her lawyer said Friday.

Nerlin Sarmiento, 32, was charged with first-degree murder charge after her son Omar Jajoy was found in the family’s apartment at 53rd Avenue and 109th Street on Feb. 13 when she called 911 to report the boy was in medical distress.

Defence lawyer Peter Royal told court Friday that three psychiatrists at Alberta Hospital believe that Sarmiento is not criminally responsible for her son’s death by reason of mental disorder. Two of them will testify at her two-day criminal responsibility hearing scheduled to begin Sept. 12.

Crown prosecutor Kim Goddard said she will oppose the motion to designate Sarmiento as not criminally responsible.

“They haven’t applied the proper legal tests,” Goddard said of the psychiatrists who diagnosed Sarmiento. “It is in the public interest to hold a full hearing into this matter.”

The Crown will not call a psychiatrist in rebuttal, Goddard said. When the hearing begins, Royal said, an agreed statement of facts will be entered in which Sarmiento will admit she killed her son. An official cause of death in the case has not been released.

Sarmiento’s husband, Florentino Jajoy, has said she struggled with mental illness for the past two years. The couple immigrated to Canada from Colombia five years ago with their son and 10-year-old daughter.

“She was sick. She had mental illness. She wanted to get better,” Jajoy said. “She was not happy in the last two years, but we tried to help each other. I tried to tell her, ‘It will be fine. Life will be good.’ But it was hard all the time.”

The final say on Sarmiento’s criminal responsibility will be decided by a Court of Queen’s Bench justice.

Sarmiento did not attend court Friday. She is being held at the Alberta Hospital.