Cops accept woman's explanation of baby accidentally slipping into sewer pipe; maternal grandparents take newborn home from hospital
A newborn baby boy who was found alive inside a toilet pipe in Jinhua, China, has been released from a hospital and taken home by his maternal grandparents, police said. The child’s mother is still being treated at the hospital, but has been cooperating with the investigation, Xiang Jiangsong, a police official, said on Thursday.
Baby 59 left hospital yesterday with his maternal grandparents, after his condition was said to be stable. Pic/AFP
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The police are labelling the case an ‘accident’ at this time, and no charges have been filed against the mother. The infant, a boy referred to as ‘Baby 59,’ was drinking formula, doctors said. Police said firefighters and other rescuers involved visited the baby at the hospital and sent clothes, formula powder and diapers.
The mother of the infant is not being identified, but local police say she is 22. Police say that, so far, they believe her account of how the baby ended up in the pipe. “That day she felt stomachaches,” said Jiangsong, the vice director of police. “So she went to the toilet. It was actually close to her due date and the baby just slid out.”
Police questioned the woman, who told them that she did not intend for the child to fall into the toilet. The police said she tried to retrieve the baby with a stick, then decided to flush the toilet to clear away the blood.
A police officer in Pujiang County, in which the incident took place said that the unmarried woman broke up with her boyfriend six months ago.
According to an official, the young woman was embarrassed to have a child as a single woman and felt nervous, so after the baby fell in the toilet, she called her landlord and told him that she’d heard crying. The landlord saw the baby and called police, the officer said, adding that the woman later begged police not to tell her story to anyone, including her parents, because she didn’t want public attention.
The mother’s parents have agreed to help the mother take care of the baby, and police have identified a man they believe is the father. The police are conducting blood tests to confirm paternity.
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