A mother was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment when she was found guilty of child abandonment in the Port Shepstone Magistrate’s Court recently.
On a cold, wintry day in July last year, a 30-year-old mother left her newborn baby boy in the bushes alongside Kingfisher Road in Albersville.
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That evening a couple heard the baby crying and went to investigate. Together with the assistance of a security officer, the baby was found in the bushes of a nearby property and taken to hospital.
As the investigation proceeded, the Ezinqoleni mother handed herself over to police. Detective Sergeant Beatus Cele of the Family Violence Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit, who investigated the case, revealed that the mother had previous child abandonment charges against her.
In April 2017 she dumped a newborn baby on a farm in Paddock. She was found guilty, but was acquitted and issued with a warning.
Detective Sergeant Cele was pleased that his hard work paid off. “This sentence serves to emphasizes the seriousness of child abandonment and concealment of birth cases, in the hope that it will deter mothers from even contemplating such a crime,” he said.
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