Woman (27) arrested for allegedly dumping baby in Newlands East stormwater drain
A second woman, who had allegedly dumped her six day old baby into a medical waste bin, has also been arrested.
THE woman who is believed to have thrown her newborn baby into a storm water drain in Newlands east last week, has been arrested.
KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo confirmed the arrest of the woman earlier today, saying he hoped the arrest would help shed light on the psycho-social reasons behind the dumping of babies.
On Monday last week various emergency services raced against the clock to rescue the infant who had been trapped several metres down a storm water drain. She has since been given a clean bill of health and has affectionately been named Sibanisethu, which means ‘our light’.
ALSO READ: ‘Clean bill of health’ for Durban baby rescued from stormwater drain
Three days later (on Valentine’s Day) a six-day-old baby was discovered stuffed in a pillow case and dumped in a medical waste bin at King Edward VIII Hospital. The 20-year-old mother was arrested.
“We wish to take the campaign of family planning forward to say that we can, as a society, avoid unplanned pregnancies with the support we give in our clinic. Family planning programmes can go a long way to prevent unplanned pregnancies. But we can further prevent unplanned pregnancies from becoming unwanted,” said Dhlomo.
“In addition to condoms and the family planning options that are freely available to people who are sexually-active, we wish to instil the message that there are still resources, after a woman has had an unplanned pregnancy, to have their baby raised for adoption. If an individual insists on not proceeding with a pregnancy, we do offer counseling to assist with safe termination of pregnancy,” he added.
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