A 27-year-old Singaporean woman was sentenced to an 18-month jail term on Tuesday (18 August) after pleading guilty to dumping her newborn son down a rubbish chute, with the intention to kill him.
The mother, who cannot be named due to a gag order to protect the baby’s identity, worked as a part-time waitress and cleaner at the time of the offence. She claimed that she did not know she was pregnant before giving birth.
Court documents made no mention of the father of the child.
Claims She Did Not Know of Pregnancy
On 7 January morning this year, the mother was said to have been at home in her Bedok North flat when she began to experience discomfort in her abdomen.
She proceeded to the toilet, and that was when she gave birth to the baby.
Image source: iStock
According to Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Yan Jiakang, the unmarried woman who suddenly became a mum claimed that she was “shocked” after the delivery.
The court stated that following her birth, the mother retrieved a plastic bag from the kitchen, placed the baby in it, and tied it up before dumping the plastic bag down the rubbish chute from the third floor of the HDB at 6.15 am.
DPP Yan said the mother “realised that the victim was moving inside the plastic bag but wanted to get rid of him quickly”.
After dumping the newborn, she took to cleaning up the blood in the flat, showered, and went back to sleep. She also told a friend that she experienced a miscarriage.
The mother was said to have missed her menstrual period for several months before her birth. However, despite having thoughts that she might be pregnant, she chose not to dwell on it.
Newborn Discovered After Hearing His Crying Sounds
According to reports, the victim was discovered after more than two hours later by two Aljunied-Hougang Town Council cleaners who were making their rounds at the block of flats at 8.30 am.
One of them was said to have heard the sound of a baby cryingwhen he closed the chute door. At that time, the two Bangladeshi men had already loaded the rubbish bin from the chute and onto a motorised cart.
The newborn was covered in blood when found in the plastic bag which was tied in a dead knot. He was lying face-up and crying.
The police and an ambulance were immediately alerted to assist. In the meantime, the cleaners found a shirt, a shawl and other clothing to wrap the newborn to give the baby warmth.
Authorities arrived shortly and took the newborn to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital.
Other than a fractured clavicle or collarbone, the newborn who is now in foster care did not have other injuries.
Mother jailed for dumping newborn in the rubbish chute was also said to have cut off his umbilical cord with a pair of kitchen scissors. | Image source: iStock
Denied Dumping Her Baby
The mother reportedly denied knowing anything about the abandoned baby when the police came to her door and asked if her family knew anything about it.
She was supposed to go through an interview and DNA testing the next day.
However, on the day before the interview on 14 February, she surrendered herself to the police. Confessing about the deed, She, later on, turned herself in after being advised by her friend.
According to reports, an IMH psychiatrist found that she did not have a major mental illness at the time of her offence. Furthermore, it was noted that the mother had the awareness to dispose of her child in a plastic bag and remove evidence by cleaning up the flat.
According to the woman’s lawyer, she had also cut the newborn’s umbilical cord with a pair of kitchen scissors.
The lawyer said that her client’s parents were not at home at the time of the incident, and she had no one from whom to seek support.
The mother pleaded guilty to a single charge of attempted culpable homicide, not amounting to murder. For her crime, she could have been jailed up to seven years, or fined, or both.
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