Newborn down garbage chute; mom arrested

Sharjah police found a new-born baby abandoned in a garbage skip of a residential tower.

The police arrested the mother who had tried to get rid of the baby after delivery on the ninth floor of the apartment building. It was found that the mother is a Filipina maid working for a family of nationals consisting of a husband, wife and a five-year-old child.

The maid had fled her original sponsor and was working for the new family illegally.

The watchman of the building in which the maid lived was surprised when he found a newborn baby in the garbage skip of the building’s residents at six o’clock on Tuesday morning and he immediately informed the police.

The police sent an ambulance patrol which found the baby wrapped in a plastic bag and was taken to Al Qasimi Hospital. There were only minor bruises on the body of the baby.

Crime investigators and forensics experts ruled out the possibility that someone from outside the building had left the baby in the garbage dump. Then they located the apartment in the building in which the baby was born and arrested the maid.

The maid admitted she was in an illicit relationship with a person who had left the country. She said she had felt labour pains at 4 o’clock in the morning, went to the bathroom where she delivered the baby and used a scissor to cut the umbilical cord. She then wrapped the baby in a piece of cloth and dropped the baby in the garbage chute on the ninth floor.

Brigadier Abdullah Mubarak, deputy commander of Sharjah Police, warned families against employing maids illegally, citing risks like the above incident.

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