Supreme Court justice calls application “very distressing” and “heart-rending”
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The body of four-year-old D’Onya “Bella” Walker, who was killed last month after sustaining blunt force trauma to the body resulting in multiple fractures, will be returned to her father this month, following a Supreme Court ruling yesterday awarding him custody of her body.
The girl grew up with her father, Deno Alexander Smith Jr, on Grand Bahama.
She moved to New Providence to live with her mother, Ostonya Logan Walker, and Darion Smith, the mother’s live-in boyfriend, just months ago before her death.
Her grandmother, Monalisa Veronica Walker, sought to gain custody of the body and bury Bella on New Providence, but was challenged by the father.
In his ruling, Supreme Court Justice Loren Klein, who called the application “very distressing”, said the dispute over who should have the right to bury the girl was made more “heart-rending” because of the tragic circumstances in which the toddler met her demise.
Smith has been charged with Bella’s murder while the mother was charged with cruelty to children.
The mother was released on $20,000 bail this month.
Klein said it is not the province of the courts to determine or direct where or how a deceased person ought to be buried, but he noted that the court has a power and duty to determine based on law and legal principles who is entitled to bury the deceased when there is a dispute among relatives or others entitled to make a claim.
According to court documents, the grandmother and plaintiff in the matter identified Bella’s body at the morgue, dealt with police and other authorities and was in the process of giving instructions to a particular funeral home for burial.
In what turned out to be a cruel twist of fate, she was returned to her mother in New Providence on August 31, 2021, apparently at the mother’s request. Two months and five days later, she was dead.
– Court ruling
However, unbeknownst to her, the child’s body was released to the presumed father, who had the body taken to another funeral home with a view to making burial arrangements.
The court said the mother was spurred into making an application through the grandmother upon learning of an imminent funeral being planned by the paternal family.
She executed a power of attorney on November 24, which granted power to the grandmother to see to Bella’s burial.
According to court documents, Smith was not registered on Bella’s birth certificate, though “it does not appear that the father’s paternity has ever been disputed”.
The court acknowledged that based on the evidence, Bella lived in Freeport with her father, paternal grandmother, aunts and other relatives for much of her life.
“In what turned out to be a cruel twist of fate, she was returned to her mother in New Providence on August 31, 2021, apparently at the mother’s request. Two months and five days later, she was dead,” read the ruling.
The judge ordered that Serenity Funeral Home and Crematorium be entitled to act on the instructions of the father to make funeral arrangements and shall release her body to him.
“As indicated, I do not propose, and it would be improper, to micromanage the specific details of baby Bella’s final arrangements by condescending to time, place and manner of burial,” read the ruling.
“Her remains are being entrusted to her father for burial, which the court hopes and expects will be carried out generally in the manner indicated.
I hasten to add that it is also hoped that such arrangements do include the plaintiff’s side of the family, who are also entitled to say their goodbyes in a respectful and dignified manner.
– Court ruling
“I hasten to add that it is also hoped that such arrangements do include the plaintiff’s side of the family, who are also entitled to say their goodbyes in a respectful and dignified manner.
“During the hearing before me, the idea of a suitable memorial being conducted in Nassau prior to her final interment in Grand Bahama was mooted as a possible compromise, but that is a matter for the parties.”
The judge noted that several aspects of the application before the court elicited “passionate and hard-fought arguments” from counsel, but said the overall proceedings were conducted in a manner that was reverential, dignified and fitting in light of the real objective of the proceedings — to determine who should carry out the “sacred and cherished right to bury baby Bella with all proper respect and dignity”.
Attorneys Maria Daxon and Benjamin represented the defendant.
Bjorn Ferguson, Ciji Smith-Curry and Rhodreka Strachan represented the grandmother.
