Former Babysitter Charged with Kidnapping Will Continue to Undergo Evaluation

HAMILTON-WENHAM, MA -

UPDATE, 6 p.m.: The competency evaluation has been extended for the Topsfield woman accused of kidnapping and assaulting a Hamilton 2-year-old last fall.

Abigail Hanna, 21, is next scheduled to be in court on Jan. 22. At that time, the prosecution expects to learn whether she will be considered competent to stand trial on charges she kidnapped and assaulted a Hamilton toddler for whom she once worked as a babysitter.

According to Carrie Kimball Monahan, a spokeswoman with the Essex County District Attorney’s Office, Worcester Recovery Center requested that Hanna’s evaluation period be extended and a Newburyport District Court judge on Monday granted that request. Hanna had been scheduled to appear in court Monday, Jan. 4.

Hanna has been held without bail and pending the result of her competency hearing since she was arrested shortly after the Hamilton toddler was found by a passing couple on the side of the road eight miles from her Hamilton home. The toddler spent two days in the hospital, but was then released to recover at home with her family.

According to police, Hanna abducted the girl from her home in the early morning hours of Nov. 20, 2015. After a massive search of the area, an Ipswich couple driving by spotted the toddler in a pile of leaves by the side of the road in Rowley.

UPDATE, 1:10 p.m.: Worcester Recovery Center has requested additional time to complete its mental health evaluation of the former babysitter accused of kidnapping and assaulting a Hamilton toddler in November.

Abigail Hanna, 21, was due to appear in court Monday following a court-ordered 20-day mental health evaluation at Worcester Recovery Center. The center, however, has requested additional time to complete that evaluation, a request Hanna’s defense is expected to make before a Newburyport District Court judge Monday afternoon, according to Essex County District Attorney’s Office Spokeswoman Carrie Kimball Monahan.

Monahan said she expects the judge to grant the request and set a future date for Hanna to once again appear in court. She did not expect Hanna to be in court Monday when the defense made its request.

Hanna has been held without bail pending the mental health evaluation and a dangerousness hearing since she was arrested in November. She is accused of taking a 2-year-old from the toddler’s Hamilton home in the early morning hours of Nov. 20, 2015, assaulting the child and then leaving her on the side of the road where a couple discovered the girl in a pile of leaves.

Hanna, who at one time worked as a babysitter for the toddler, has been charged with kidnapping, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery on a child and breaking and entering in the nighttime.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: The 21-year-old former babysitter accused of kidnapping a Hamilton toddler in November is scheduled to return to Newburyport District Court Jan. 4 for a status hearing, according to WCVB.

Abigail Hanna is charged with kidnapping, assault and battery of a child, and other charges stemming from an incident in November when police say Hanna kidnapped a girl she previously babysat, beat the toddler and left her on the side of the road eight miles from the child’s Hamilton home. A passing couple found the child in a pile of leaves.

The toddler returned home with her parents after a few days recovering in the hospital.

At her arraignment in November, Hanna was order to undergo a psychiatric evaluation and to remain held without bail. During that arraigment, WHDH reported, a court doctor who conducted an initial competency hearing with Hanna told the court she did not believe Hanna understood the charges against her and had suffered a litany of past mental health issues including suicidal thoughts and hallucinations.

Photo: WHDH/7-News. Abigail Hanna appears in court for her Nov. 23 arraignment.