Man who abandoned his newborn to stand trial

A MAN who allegedly left his newborn daughter in a hospital will stand trial for abandoning the baby, Hongkou District prosecutors said.

The suspect, surnamed Wang, met his girlfriend Zheng Yue in an Internet cafe.

Prosecutors said both of them were drug users.

On March 4, 2016, Zheng delivered a baby daughter, identified as Xiaohui, in the Jiangwan Hospital in Hongkou. But five days later, Zheng started to feel unwell and collapsed and was transferred to the Shanghai General Hospital.

Wang accompanied her and left the newborn at the Jiangwan Hospital.

Zheng was diagnosed with a severe cerebral hemorrhage. Wang then disappeared from the hospital, leaving his dying girlfriend alone in intensive care and their daughter at the Jiangwan Hospital, prosecutors said.

Wang told police he was an online game player for clients, and had gone to collect money to pay for his girlfriend’s medical bills. However, he was caught using drugs at the Internet cafe on March 17, 2016. He was given a 14-day detention. After his release he vanished again, while Zheng died in the hospital on April 28, 2016.

Little Xiaohui was sent to the Shanghai Children’s Temporary Care Center. Police had earlier managed to contact Xiaohui’s grandparents from both sides, but none of them were able to care for her, prosecutors said.

Wang’s parents had divorced when he was young. His mother had remarried while his father kept no contact with them. Zheng has a child from a previous marriage. She was not married to Wang.

Wang was caught on December 2017 at Shanghai South Railway Station. He faces up to five years of jail.