“I am blessed,” said Sini Mathew, the adoptive mother of three-year-old Sherin Mathews who was found dead in a culvert in Dallas in October 2017, after the charges of murder against her were dropped. On Friday, Sini Mathews walked out of jail a free woman and told the media that she is looking forward to meeting her biological daughter.
“I want to thank the DA’s office for dismissing the case and I am looking forward to being reunited with my daughter,” Sini told the media as she walked out of jail, accompanied by her lawyer. She did not answer questions about the trial.
Sini was charged in November 2017 for leaving her younger daughter Sherin alone at home and was being investigated over whether she and her husband Wesley had neglected their adopted child.
On Friday when the media asked her whether she had left Sherin at home alone, Sini said, “No comments.”
Sini Mathews was let off by the district attorney on the basis that there was not enough evidence against her. The charge has been dismissed without prejudice, which means that the court can arrest her under the same charges in future if need be.
When the media asked her about her time in jail for the past 15 months, she said it was “challenging.” She thanked her friends and family for their support.
When the media asked what she was going to do next, Sini said, “Get situated,” but did not reveal whether she was going to her home.
Sini’s husband 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 $1 million bond.
Sini and Wesley, who hail from Kerala, had adopted Sherin from an orphanage in Bihar in July 2016. Sherin disappeared on October 7, 2017, and Wesley had first claimed that he had punished her by making her standing outside their home for not drinking her milk.
After Sherin’s body was found in a culvert a kilometre from their home on October 22, 2017. Wesley then changed his version that he had tried to feed her the milk and that she choked on it. He also admitted that a day before she died, the couple had left Sherin behind when they had gone out for dinner and had taken their biological daughter, then aged 4.
Wesley was indicted for capital murder by a grand jury and for tampering with evidence. Sini was charged with endangering a child. They gave up parental rights of their biological daughter in January 2018 and the girl has been with the Social Services since.
An autopsy report in January 2018 showed that Sherin died of homicidal violence.
In September last year, the Indian government decided to revoke the Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) for Wesley and Sini. OCI is an immigration status that allows a foreign citizen of Indian origin to come back to India and live and work here permanently.