Mother of Baby Fay charged with manslaughter

CAIRO―The mother of a three-year-old girl who died last week after police say she was violently assaulted has now been charged in connection with her child’s death.

Farhiya M. Gaal, 26, was booked in the Greene County Jail late Wednesday night on the charge of second-degree manslaughter, a class C felony defined under the state Penal Law as recklessly causing the death of another person.

In a statement issued Thursday morning, Greene County Sheriff’s Office Captain Joel Rowell said Gaal’s arrest is the result of additional information obtained during the investigation into the death of Fay Mohamed. Gaal is from Rochester, according to the sheriff's office.

Mohamed was hospitalized for nearly a month after authorities allege she was brutally beaten by Lameik Shakur Wilson, Gaal’s then-boyfriend. The child passed away shortly after 6 a.m. on February 25 at Albany Medical Center. She was taken off life support the prior afternoon after remaining in critical condition ever since the assault.

It was around 4:14 p.m. on Wednesday, January 28, that Greene County 911 dispatched police and EMS to an apartment at 579 Main Street in Cairo for a report of a three-year-old found unconscious and bleeding from the mouth.

It was Gaal who reportedly found Mohamed severely injured after returning from a job interview.

Mohamed was noted to have several visible injuries and was treated at the scene before being airlifted to Albany Medical Center, according to the Greene County Sheriff’s Office.

Greene County District Attorney Joseph Stanzione has called the crime a “horrific offense” and said that Mohamed “was beaten and abused beyond comprehension.”

Wilson, 24, of Cairo, was arrested by the sheriff’s office on January 29 and charged with second-degree assault, a felony, and endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor. He remains remanded to the Greene County Jail without bail.

Wilson is not Mohamed’s biological father.

“The sheriff’s office, in conjunction with the Greene County District Attorney’s Office, is in the process of upgrading the charges against Wilson to include murder in the second degree, as well as other related charges,” the sheriff’s office reported last week.

“Unfortunately, we are unable to share any further details until the grand jury has acted on this matter,” Stanzione had said following the child’s death.

Wilson is not originally from the area, Stanzione noted. Public records show that he previously resided in Rochester.

Gaal was arraigned in Cairo Town Court and remanded to the Greene County Jail without bail.

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