Mother Arrested For Dumping Newborn Baby In Stormwater Drain

A 32-year-old foreign national has been tracked down and arrested by Reaction Unit South Africa (RUSA) approximately 17 hours after abandoning her newborn baby in a stormwater drain in Verulam, Durban.

Newborn Rescued by RUSA Officer

The baby girl was discovered by a RUSA Reaction Officer on bike patrol along Wick Street in Verulam CBD. The officer found the infant hanging on the edge of a manhole, just inches from plunging into a two-meter-deep stormwater drain. The child was immediately rescued and rushed to a government hospital for medical care.

On Sunday night, the RUSA Operations Centre received an anonymous tip-off from a medical facility. The informant reported that the widely circulated picture of the rescued baby resembled a child delivered via caesarean section at their hospital.

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Acting on this information and other investigative leads, RUSA officers launched a manhunt to track down the mother.

By Monday morning, officers identified the woman as a foreign national from Maseru, Lesotho, who had illegally entered South Africa in 2022. Intelligence suggested she planned to flee the country following the incident.

Mother Caught with Fake Passport

Acting swiftly, RUSA officers canvassed an area in Hazelmere, KZN, and successfully located the woman with the help of an informer. She was found in possession of a passport belonging to her friend and a hospital tag bearing the name of the newborn child in her room.

During questioning by a female RUSA officer, the woman revealed that she had left two children (aged 11 and 5) in Maseru when she came to South Africa seeking employment. She worked as a machinist in a textile business and became pregnant with her third child.

According to the suspect, her boyfriend denied paternity, accusing her of infidelity. When the baby was born, he refused to communicate with her, leaving her desperate and alone.

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She admitted to placing the baby in a black bin bag before attempting to push the infant into the stormwater drain. However, as she approached the drain, she threw the baby toward a manhole when a passing vehicle startled her, forcing her to flee.

The woman is currently detained and faces charges of child abandonment.

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