JESSICA PRITHIVIRAJ - 18 Months (2010) - Manhattan/ NYC NY

Devi Silvia, mom who tossed her infant daughter into Hudson River in suicide attempt, takes plea

Will undergo psychiatric evaluation and possible time in a mental facility

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Friday, December 9 2011, 4:52 PM



Jefferson Siegel

In a plea deal Devi Silvia will undergo a psychiatric evaluation and may
be placed in a mental facility for wading into the Hudson River with her
daughter in a suicide attempt.

A young Indian mother who waded into the Hudson River with her toddler daughter in a suicide
attempt last year could be sentenced to a psychiatric facility under a plea deal reached Friday.

Devi Silvia, 34, pleaded "not responsible by reason of mental defect"
in Manhattan Criminal Court for nearly killing her 18-month-old girl.

Silvia entered the Hudson River with her daughter, Jessica Prithiviraj, in May 2010.
Unable to swim, they drifted into the center of the river, where they were separated and nearly drowned.

Rescue teams scooped them out of the water, with baby Jessica not breathing. She has since fully recovered.

Assistant Manhattan District Attorney Kevin Wilson said Salvia told her rescuers that "her baby was dead and she wanted to die."

Psychiatrists for the defense and prosecutors agreed that Salvia suffered from a
biopolar disorder that had never been diagnosed.

Wilson said Silvia was unable to sleep in the days before the suicide attempt, saw
lights, thought God had cleaned her dishes and heard voices telling her to jump into the river.

The medications have kept Silvia stable ever since, but if she went off them, she could be 'quite dangerous,' Wilson said.

When Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro[/url] asked Silvia on Friday if she threw her daughter into the Hudson River, she said, "Yes, but I didn't know what I was doing."

Carro told Silvia that state Department of Mental Health doctors must examine
her and that they may order her to enter psychiatric facility. Silvia said she understood.

Beaming, Silvia left the courtroom with her husband, Dominic Prithiviraj, who had his arm around her small shoulders.
Their children remain in India with family.

A woman who tossed her toddler in the Hudson River thought she had
heard a dog speaking to her and another voice telling her to jump in the
water, New York prosecutors said. Those details emerged Friday
as Devi Silvia resolved the attempted murder case by agreeing to a
psychiatric evaluation and possible hospitalization. In an agreement
with the Manhattan district attorney's office, the India-born Silvia
pleaded not guilty because of mental disease.
She acknowledged
throwing her 21-month-old daughter into the river in May 2010. She said
she didn't know what she was doing. She also jumped into the river.
The child was blue and motionless when both were pulled from the water.
Silvia was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Her two children were taken back to the family's native India.

Read more: http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/mother-admits-tossing-toddler-in-hudson-river-20111209-apx#ixzz1g9Q0GGB0