Domestic helper held after baby is found in toilet

A 31-year-old domestic helper was arrested early yesterday after a severely premature baby boy was found abandoned in a shopping centre toilet.

The baby, of only five months’ gestation, was found unconscious at a mall in Tsz Wan Shan at 3.46pm on Friday and was certified dead soon after being taken to Kwong Wah Hospital in Yau Ma Tei.

The helper, an Indonesian national, was arrested at her home near the shopping centre at 1.30am yesterday, according to police. “The arrest came after we analysed CCTV footage from the shopping centre, shops and nearby buildings,” a police source said.

He added that the woman was sent for medical examinations and had been held for questioning.

She was arrested on suspicion of concealing the birth of a child – an offence that carries a two-year maximum prison term.

The baby boy was found by a 62-year-old cleaner inside a bin in the ladies’ toilet in Tsz Wan Shan Shopping Centre.

Authorities said the baby still had his umbilical cord attached. An autopsy would confirm the cause of death, police said.

There have been similar cases in the city this year. In June, a 28year-old woman was charged with one count of infanticide and one count of concealing a birth after an abandoned newborn girl was found dead inside a plastic bag in a trolley outside the rubbish collection point on Yau Oi Estate in Castle Peak. A 43-year-old man, believed to be connected to the case, was also charged with one count of concealing the birth.

And in January, a 32-year-old Indonesian domestic helper was arrested on suspicion of having an abortion in a public housing flat and leaving the 31-week-gestated fetus at a rubbish collection centre in Kowloon Bay.