Image is meant for illustrative purposes. Photo: Bernard Chiguvare
A 21-year-old woman has been arrested after allegedly deserting her three-day old baby in a pit toilet in George, police said on Wednesday.
A passerby was visiting Nelson Mandela Village in Thembalethu on Tuesday afternoon when he stumbled upon the naked baby boy, said Captain Malcolm Pojie.
The man phoned the police station and officers rushed to the scene while also calling paramedics.
“By the time the discovery was made, the baby boy was already suffering from trauma and hypothermia. He was immediately transported to hospital where he was admitted for emergency medical treatment,” said Pojie.
“The vigilance of the witness has definitively saved the boy from certain death.”
Police officers were led to the mother after finding shredded pieces of what appeared to be a birth certificate.
When they arrived at the family home, residents had already “apprehended” the mother and then handed her over to police.
Pojie said that according to medical records, the woman gave birth to her son at George Hospital on Sunday.
They were discharged on Tuesday.
“Thereafter, they went home and seemingly the mother deserted the boy of only three days old in the pit toilet.”
She is expected to appear in the George Magistrate’s Court on Thursday on charges of attempted murder and child neglect.
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