Woman who left newborn baby in drain for five days returned to see if he had been rescued
A woman who abandoned her newborn baby boy in a western Sydney drain told police she hoped someone would find him, but expected him to die.
The factory worker, 32, went back twice to check if the child was still alive before he was rescued days later, the Daily Telegraph reports.
The woman claimed she did not hear anything and concluded that the baby had died.
She dumped the child through a small opening under a concrete slab that covered the drain. The boy fell 2.4m to the bottom.
Not long after, the woman’s boyfriend, who did not know she was pregnant, reportedly received a text from her saying ‘I look good aye baby lol’.
The child remained in the drain for five days, in hot and dry conditions.
The boy was discovered on November 23, 2014 by David Otte and his daughter Hayley, who were cycling along the road in Quakers Hill.
The woman, who cannot be identified to protect the child, has pleaded guilty to abandoning or exposing a child under seven years of age to danger of death and recklessly inflicting grievous bodily harm.
The woman gave birth to the child at Blacktown hospital on November 18 and discharged herself early that afternoon.
She allegedly took her baby and placed him in the storm water drain near her home at about 3pm.
The woman told police she sat with her child in a park before she walked with him towards Quakers Rd.
“Then I just saw the drain… and I just put the baby in there,” she told police.
When Mr Otte notified police, they retried the baby, who was found wrapped in a pink striped blanket.
The five-day-old baby was taken to hospital when he was found, treated for severe dehydration and bleeding on the brain.
Doctors said the baby survived because of a lack of rain and newborns’ natural ability to survive without food or water.
Court documents reveal the father of the baby was a Fijian man who the woman was dating in January.
It was revealed the father left the woman after he found out she was pregnant three months later.
The woman was living with her aunt and uncle at Quakers Hill when she fell pregnant.
She soon entered into another relationship and tried to hide her pregnancy.
Her friends have rallied around her, sharing messages of support and prayers on her Facebook page.
One family friend told Daily Mail the woman ‘loved children’ and was ‘very good with children’.
The woman is set to face Parramatta District Court on June 20 for sentencing.
News break – April 8
