Underage girl abandons baby after giving birth- Visitors rescue crying child an hour later

Jan 04, 2021 News

Kaieteur News- An underage girl who is believed to be 14 or 15-years-old reportedly abandoned her baby after giving birth on New Year’s day at a sawmill located in Kwebana Village, Moruca, Region One.
About an hour later, Kaieteur News was told, a group of visitors to the village, heard the newborn’s cries and rescued the infant.
According to Kwebana’s Toshao, Tos Pierre, the baby was found abandoned around 10:00hrs on New Year’s morning.
He said some visitors from a nearby village had docked their boat at a landing located just where the sawmill was.
As they got out of the boat, he said, sounds of a crying baby caught the attention of a woman who was among the group. Pierre said the woman had told him that at first she taught that a mother and her baby were probably close by.

Rescued baby born on New Year’s morning.

However, he continued, the place was lonely and no one was seen. The woman then decided to follow the cries and reportedly found the infant lying in the grass nearby.
“She picked up the infant and rushed to inform me,” said the Toshao.
Pierre said no time was wasted and the newborn was taken to Kwebana Health Centre where the medical professionals took over.
“They did their checks and said that the infant was healthy” he added.
Relieved that the baby was fine and in good hands, they began to search for the mother. Not long after, Kwebana villagers found her in her parents’ home.
“She was in a bad state and bleeding too”, recalled Pierre.
The young mom was rescued as well and taken to the health centre where she was given the necessary treatment. Both she and the infant were later transferred to the Kumaka District Hospital.
Kaieteur News understands that police have since launched an investigation.
Sources close to the investigation said that her parents were unaware that she was pregnant. The young lady was scared, they said, and kept it a secret. On New Year’s Day she was in pain and suspected that it was time to give birth.
She reportedly crept out of the house unknown to her parents and headed to sawmill where she gave birth. The source also said, that she told them that after the child was born she became even more fearful about how her parent’s will react and decided to abandon the infant.
The young mother, however, has not yet revealed the identity of the baby’s father. Villagers who spoke with this newspaper said that there are some suspicions regarding who he might be but they are not sure. They described the young lady as someone who might have been suffering from depression since she hardly ever spoke to anyone and always kept to herself.