The mother who beheaded her own 3-month-old baby is said to be suffering from a condition called Postpartum Psychosis, a very rare but severe mental illness. Courtesy: FOX 19

A MOTHER, who had been ordered to stay away from her newborn daughter, beheaded the three-month-old girl.

The three-month-old girl, Jayniah, was found by another child on the kitchen bench of her aunt’s home at College Hill, a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio. She had been decapitated and had also suffered multiple stab wounds to the face and a fractured right arm.

“It strikes against the very core of what we as humans and particularly a new mum is going to do,” Stephen Strakowski, MD a psychiatry professor at UC Health, told Fox 19.

Her mother Deasia Watkins, 20, who has been charged with aggravated murder, is said to be suffering from a very rare but severe mental illness, postpartum psychosis, that is experienced by one or two in 1000 women in the weeks after having a baby.

She was prescribed the medication Risperdal but it is believed she had stopped taking it, which may have led to her actions.

“If she has a mental illness, the onset of this occurred recently and very rapidly,” said Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters at a press conference.

He added that the case is “one of the most disturbing cases I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Hamilton County coroner Dr Lakshmi Sammarco told ABC2: “It’s days like this when you really wonder how much evil there is in the world and how we’re fighting it.”

“These are images that will undoubtedly be marked in my memory.

“We’re trying to do right by this child. We’re trying to bring justice for this baby.”

Jayniah’s father, James Brown, said he was devastated.

“Just trying to live with the situation that’s been going on has been very hard for me,” he said.

“She’s so young and I haven’t really had a chance to be around her as long as I wanted to.”

Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services took custody of Jayniah earlier this month when a court motion stated the baby could be in immediate danger in its surroundings.

Custody of baby was taken before she was beheaded...allegedly by her mother. Deasia Watkins. pic.twitter.com/Ny94u0sluZ — Brian Hamrick (@bhamrick_wlwt) March 17, 2015

Watkins was ordered to stay away from her daughter, but an aunt who received custody allowed Watkins to live with her, said Deters.

Careatha White, Jayniah’s paternal great aunt, said that Watkins suffered from Postpartum Psychosis and she believed the authorities failed the child in letting her stay with a mentally ill mother.

“This could have been avoided, seriously,” said White. “Job and Family Services needed to be more on their A-game, investigate more in-depth with people.”

Deters defended Job and Family Services.

“No one has the resources to monitor a mother and neglected child 24/7. They did what they had to do and unfortunately this happened,” he said.

Watkins was taken to University of Cincinnati Medical Centre for a mental evaluation.

She is not listed on the jail roster.

“Something’s wrong. She got to be sick in the mind or something,” neighbour Jimmie Graham said. “I don’t see how anybody can do that to a little baby.”

The disturbing crime comes just days after a Chicago grandmother was arrested for killing her seven-month-old granddaughter and then cutting the child’s throat with a power saw.