THROUGHOUT her nine months of pregnancy, a teenage girl managed
to keep it away from her mother and two siblings even though they
live under the same roof.
But the secret was out when the 17-year-old gave birth to a baby
boy last Tuesday morning.
In a daze and not wanting her mother to find out about the baby,
she hid the newborn in the washing machine, under a pile of
clothes. It was only when the teenager's 43-year-old mother saw
blood stains on the toilet floor and on her daughter's shirt, did
her suspicions arise.
Following her instinct, she opened the washing machine's lid,
and to her shock, found a quiet and bloody baby under her laundry.
She immediately called the ambulance and both mother and child were
rushed to the KK Women's and Children?'s Hospital.
A Singapore Civil Defence Force spokesman said that when they
arrived at the flat, they found the baby wrapped in a towel on the
kitchen floor. He had deep cuts in the neck and chest area. The
baby is now in a stable condition at the hospital while the
teenager was discharged on Monday.
The girl, a second-year ITE student, is helping police with the
investigation. Under the Children and Young Persons Act, one found
guilty of ill-treatment of a child or young person can be jailed up
to four years or fined up to $4,000, or both.
--ST
