Dumped baby’s ‘mother’ on CCTV

POLICE are in possession of CCTV footage allegedly showing a mother dumping her baby in St Josephs Road, Lansdowne, last week.

However, they have yet to arrest the mother of the baby boy, a police source said.

“The CCTV footage was retrieved from a residence in St Josephs Road, but it seems the format that it was recorded in cannot be viewed at the station. It will have to be taken to the command centre for a clearer picture of the mother.

“At the moment one cannot clearly see the face of the woman. It’s believed she is from a nearby informal settlement,” the source said.

Lansdowne ward councillor Mark Kleinschmidt, who was able to view the footage, said it showed a woman walking down St Josephs Road just before 7am.

“The woman can be seen in a red top and blue jeans, walking down the road with the baby and looking up at a double-storey house. She passes the house and a few minutes later she comes back, without the baby,” Kleinschmidt said.

Kleinschmidt said the baby boy was still at a place of safety in Heideveld.

“The baby boy, whom we refer to as Alexander the Great, was handed over to the Social Services Department, where he will undergo a screening period. During this period of 90 days they will try to locate his biological mother.

The boy, wrapped in a blanket, was discovered by residents, according to a witness. A case of child abandonment was still under investigation.