While Singapore is facing a hard time to fight against coronavirus outbreak, which killed over 1500 people and infected more than 66,000, the city-state police arrested a 26-year-old woman who is believed to be the mother of a baby boy abandoned in a Bedok North rubbish chute on January 7 this year.
As per early reports, two cleaners, while cleaning bags and rubbish from a chute bin in Bedok North on January 7, found the newborn baby boy alive inside a bloody Sheng Siong supermarket plastic bag which was tied. After the paramedics reached the location and checked the baby they established that the infant was in a stable condition with no visible injury.
The police investigation
Police said on Saturday that they arrested the woman on Thursday, February 13 after looking through images from police cameras and other CCTV footages provided by the residents and businesses in the neighbourhood.
The alleged mother of the abandoned newborn child is expected to be charged on Saturday with exposure and abandonment of a child under 12 years old. As per Section 317, if the court finds the mother guilty of abandoning the baby, then she will face a jail term of up to seven years, a fine, or both.
The dumped baby
Earlier, one of the cleaners, 24-year-old Patwari Shamin said that he heard the crying of the baby after he opened a rubbish bin and later, he realized that the crying noises were coming from a tied plastic bag. He informed his supervisor who called the police for further assistance.
After they opened the bag they found the infant with blood on his body. At that time the umbilical cord was still attached to the infant. The cleaner said that the baby was crying loudly but he did not look hurt. Later when paramedics reached the spot, the baby was handed over to them.
The police talked to several people from the neighbourhood and in CCTV footages they noticed a woman walking down the stairs to one of the second storey residents. Officials went door to door to speak to nearby residents to trace the parents of the newborn baby. They asked owners of vehicles left at the open-air carpark to show some footage from the in-car cameras.
After the baby was found, a spokesperson from the Ministry of Social and Family Development stated that the Child Protective Service (CPS) would look into the immediate care arrangement of the newborn baby. However, it should be mentioned that the police are still looking into the identity of the child's father.
