Police arrested a 32-year-old woman, suspected to be involved in the concealment of the birth of a newborn baby boy.
She was arrested at her home in Secunda on February 20.

Police followed the leads of CCTV footage of a vehicle the woman used to discard the dead newborn in a rubbish bin in the CBD by Superspar, Eastside Centre, in Horwood Street, on February 19.

The vehicle registration number was traced to a relative of the woman. Police then found the woman at her home and arrested her.

She has since been admitted to Evander Hospital, under police observation, for a medical evaluation. More details of the woman could not be provided as she is still due to appear in court.

In a previous report, the Ridge Times reported of police responding to the scene around 15:25 on February 19, of a body of the baby dumped in a dustbin.

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A homeless man was digging inside the rubbish bin for tins and food when he found the little boy. The infant’s body was wrapped in a box, inside a Clicks plastic.

ER24 declared the baby dead on the scene. This news angered the community and readers took to the Ridge Times Facebook page with this to say:

Vernise Richards: “As far as I know you can get contraceptives and condoms for free at the clinic. Please parents talk to your children and educate them about sex and the dangers of unprotected sex and unwanted pregnancies.”

Baby Savers SA: “It would be great if a Children’s Home, Pregnancy Help Centre or Child Protection organisation like SAVF, CMR or Child Welfare can put up Baby Savers in Secunda, it is a safe alternative to unsafe baby abandonment.

“Around 3 000 babies survive unsafe abandonment annually, for every baby found alive, two are found dead. How many are never found?”

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Anel Coetzer: “People out there struggling to have kids and then there’s people out there doing THIS!!!”
Landiwe Masombuka: “I wish she gave it to me.”

Smileen Michele Leeuwendaal Bruwer: “Our broken desperate young people of SA. Broken families… broken nation. We need to pray harder for our country. We do not know what happens in people’s lives.”

Margarida De Abreu Roets: “What has become of this world!!!”

Casey Elliott: “Yoh my heart is broken. That poor child. May whoever did this be struck by bad luck for the rest of their natural life and may the afterlife be even more uncomfortable, unbearable and painful!!”

Michelle Booyzen: “I hope they have cameras! How sick. This person has no shame. Sies.”