Newborn tossed away at dumpsite
A naked newborn baby was found hidden in a cement pipe at a dumpsite in Wells Estate at 9am on Thursday.
The baby boy was found about 30m from Malinga Street by children who heard him crying.
The children alerted an adult, who rescued the baby.
Angry residents gathered to search the area for the mother as the news spread.
Within four hours, police had found the 26-year-old mother hiding in a nearby house.
Police spokesperson Captain Andre Beetge said the woman who found the baby had taken him to the Wells Estate Clinic, about 200m away.
“Nurses at the clinic assisted the child immediately and alerted the police,” he said.
“Police arrived at the scene and during an inspection of the dumpsite they noticed a trail of blood leading to a nearby house.
“This led officials to a house in Kolisi Street about 100m from the dumpsite.
“Evidence was found suggesting that it was the mother’s house.”
He said the mother had not been at the house at the time. The Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Investigations unit assisted with the search.
“Several residents were alerted to the discovery of the child and formed a search party to canvass the neighbourhood,” Beetge said.
At 12.45pm the woman was located by residents, who called the police. “The woman was arrested inside a nearby friend’s house,” he said.
“She was detained and taken to hospital for treatment and a general check-up.”
Residents, who declined to be named, were outraged and called the abandoning of the child inhumane.
“We are mothers [and] some of us can’t even have children and she was blessed with a gift from God and just throws him away,” one said.
“We just wanted to see her face and ask her why she did it.
“I won’t say we were not going to beat her up, but if it got to that she would have deserved it.”
The baby was transferred to Dora Nginza Hospital by late afternoon.
The mother is due to appear in the Motherwell Magistrate’s Court on Friday on charges of attempted murder and child abandonment.