“WE, as officers of the law, are trained to be very tough at all times, in any situation and under all circumstances. However, what I experienced on August 12 at about 8am broke my heart and made me forget my toughness.
“Holding a crying, gentle creation of God in my hands made me feel like a small boy. I unwrapped a new-born baby from five plastic bags. The infant was scared, hungry and crying for her mother’s milk,” said an emotional Constable Francois Bouwer.
Bouwer and his partner, Constable Lucky Kiviet, were patrolling in the Greenfields area on Saturday morning when they received a radio call about an abandoned baby in Verbene Street.
A resident in the street heard a baby’s cry during the night and again in the morning. She summoned police to check a drain from which the crying seemed to be coming.
The two officers found a new-born baby girl in the drain – wrapped in five plastic bags. According to Bouwer they immediately – like mid-wives – wiped the baby clean and even cut the umbilical cord before rushing the new-born to the Palmridge Fire Department. From there an ambulance rushed the baby to Thelle Mogwerane Hospital in Vosloorus.
“I am very proud of our two officers who saved the baby’s life. It was really brave of them taking into account that they know very little about new-born babies. We are also grateful to the lady who took notice of the baby’s cries. The baby is alive and still in hospital,” said captain Vusi Mhlophe.
Bouwer alleges that the woman who summoned the police on Saturday, arrived at Eden Park SAPS and requested to adopt the abandoned baby.
A case of concealment of birth was opened at Eden Park SAPS. Police are searching for the biological mother of the abandoned little girl.
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