HER major depressive disorder led a mother to bury her newborn
baby in a rooftop garden of a multi-storey carpark in Eunos
Crescent in on April 11. The infant, his mouth stuffed with mud and
dried leaves and his umbilical cord still attached, was found alive
that same day by a retiree having a smoke.
On Friday, Indriani, 28, an Indonesian who goes by one name, was
jailed six weeks for child abandonment. She was also jailed four
weeks and fined $2,000 for overstaying here for 273 days. As she is
unable to pay up, she will serve the one week default sentence. The
jail term was backdated to April 26, the date of her remand.
She had pleaded guilty to both charges on Wednesday. Then, the
district court heard that Indriani came here on March 6 last year
to work as a maid. She ran off after four months and was deemed an
overstayer from July 19, 2010.
According to investigations, she hid out at various parks. To
earn money, she prostituted herself in Geylang. Last October, she
discovered she was pregnant and had no idea who the father was.
She went into labour on the night of April 17 and sought refuge
at the rooftop garden of Block 31A Eunos Crescent. At about 2am the
next day, she gave birth to a baby boy. The mother hid the newborn
in a 10cm deep hole she dug near some plants, and covered it with
some soil and leaves. Indriani then left. The baby has since been
placed in foster care by the Ministry of Community Development,
Youth and Sports.
A psychiatric evaluation by the Institute of Mental Health
indicated that she was suffering from a major depressive disorder
when she abandoned the child. Shoulder-length hair tied neatly in a
ponytail, the slim, 1.7m tall woman showed no expression throughout
the hearing.
-- ST
