Nairobi, May 1 -- Karrine Steffans was born on August 24, 1978 in the 28 square-mile Carribean island of Saint Thomas. Her mother, Josephine, was of Puerto Rican, Jamaican and Danish descent. She was the ultimate personification of evil - irrational, lacked affection, impatient and had no paternal instincts. Josephine was so physically abusive, she would strip Karrine naked and assault her so viciously, she'd bleed profusely and lose consciousness.

Josephine talked down upon her daughter's straight-A academic brilliance with rueful expressions of negative comments. She frequently called Karrine stupid, degraded her good looks and made her feel unworthy.

When Karrine was 13, they moved to Tampa Florida in the US. Exhausted by her mother'...