A mother from Indonesia has been arrested for dumping her newborn baby girl on a staircase of a residential building in Patane district, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Ho Wai Lok said at a special press conference yesterday.
Ho identified the suspect, surnamed Rustika, as a 36-year-old woman who arrived in Macau last August to work as a shop assistant.
According to Ho, a woman of the residential building on Saturday discovered the abandoned baby on the staircase and immediately reported the case to the police. The baby, who was less than a day old, was found wrapped in a white garment and placed inside a white plastic bag.
The baby was rushed to a hospital where she was examined and found to be in good health.
The police soon identified Rustika as her mother and arrested her at her workplace in the Inner Harbour district. She was taken to a hospital for examination, which confirmed that she had recently given birth.
Under questioning, the suspect admitted to giving birth alone at her flat in Fai Chi Kei district, and abandoning the baby at the residential building when passing it. When asked about the father’s information and the reason for abandoning the baby, the suspect did not to provide any answers.
Rustika was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing a child-abandonment charge. According to Article 135 of the Macau Penal Code, she faces between one and five years’ imprisonment.
Judiciary Police (PJ) officers escort the Indonesian mother to a police vehicle outside the PJ headquarters in Zape yesterday. – Photo: William Chan
