She allegedly barricaded children in dark, hot closet.
By KEN KUSMER
Associated Press Writer
INDIANAPOLIS — A psychological exam was ordered this week for an Indianapolis woman charged in the deaths of two young children authorities said were left barricaded for hours in a dark, hot closet.
Defense attorney Mark King said he asked Marion Superior Court Judge Lisa Borges to order the exam and grant a physical checkup because Ebyan Farah wasn't eating properly before the Sept. 19 deaths of her 4-year-old daughter, Zuhur Farah Hassan, and 3-year-old son, Zakariya Farah Hassan.
"Based on the fact she's Muslim and what the jail normally feeds, I don't believe she's eating properly while in the jail. I'm very concerned that her chemical imbalances may be off, which will hurt ability to understand what's happening around her," King said.
Farah, 28, a Somali immigrant, hung her head and looked at the floor for a second court appearance in a row, lifting her head only to say yes when the judge asked her if she understood an order not to contact her three surviving children.
"Being away from them is killing her, honestly — emotionally and physically," King told reporters after the hearing.
Farah is charged with eight counts of neglect and confinement.
An Indianapolis police report has said Farah told officers she "was not in her right mind" when she allegedly used a bed to barricade four of her five children in a closet measuring 6 feet by 1 1/2 feet for about 10 hours while she visited a friend.
Relatives have said Farah and her husband, Bursan Hassan, emigrated from Somalia about a decade ago, and he returned to the African nation several weeks ago to visit his parents. He was in court Monday but did not speak to reporters.
Source: AP