Metro

Mom who left baby in subway struggling over beau’s death: relative

A homeless woman accused of abandoning her baby at the Columbus Circle subway station struggled to care for the infant after her daughter’s dad was murdered, a family member said on Tuesday.

Before Frankea Aleasha Dabbs ditched her 7-month-old girl on the uptown platform at the 59th Street station, the 20-year-old mom was struggling with her boyfriend’s death — a killing she had witnessed in North Carolina while cowering under a bed.

Dabbs told cops she came to New York July 2, but was overwhelmed by the responsibility of caring for the child.

“She felt she couldn’t take care of the baby and thought she was leaving her in a safe public space,” said Stephen Davis, an NYPD spokesman.

Relatives said Dabbs has been spiraling downward for years.

“I pray that they get help for Frankea,” said Lawanna Edmonds, an aunt who lives in North Carolina. “There’s a lot she’s going through. But I know for myself that Frankea loves her baby.”

At an arraignment hearing, Dabbs was ordered held without bail, but not before going into a bizarre rant apparently aimed at hip-hop mogul Jay Z.

While standing before the judge, she turned toward reporters and TV-camera operators and said, “Is that rolling? . . . Tell Shawn Corey Carter I said ‘f–k him. Piece of sh-t.’ ”

Shawn Corey Carter is Jay Z’s real name.

Dabbs remained silent for the rest of hearing.

Edmonds said the family is trying to make arrangements to come to New York to see if they can gain custody of little Milini Edmonds.

Edmonds said the baby’s father was murdered recently by masked gunmen.

Since then, she said, Dabbs had been walking around with sunglasses at all hours of the day.

“She really didn’t want to be in any light at all,” Edmonds said. “Whatever it is, she can’t handle it.”

Edmonds said Dabbs and the baby lived with her for a while because they had no place else to go. She said she didn’t know how Dabbs got to New York, or why.

“She’s a troubled child,” Edmonds said. “I think she feels like the world is against her.”

Dabbs also had several run-ins with the law that included arrests for assault, marijuana possession and prostitution, officials said.

Dabbs, who was living in North Carolina as recently as last month, was charged with abandonment of a child and acting in a manner injurious to a child below age 17.

Dabbs was arrested on West 72nd Street and Broadway Monday night after someone recognized her from a photo released by the NYPD to the public.

A witness told cops the woman was pushing her baby in a stroller in the first car of the uptown No. 1 train on Monday at about 11:50 a.m.

When the train pulled into the station, she shoved the stroller out of the car before the doors closed and continued riding on the train.

A passenger had seen the mother and child board the train at Times Square, police said. The passenger got off at Columbus Circle and noticed the unattended stroller on the platform and the mother still inside the train.