A 26 year-old woman has been arrested in Alicante and charged with attempted murder after giving birth to a baby on Friday and then trying to get rid of it by throwing it in a small drainage hole near her home.
The incident occurred at around 02:00 on Sunday morning in calle Benissa in the Virgen del Carmen district of Alicante. Neighbours heard a noise in a hole at the confluence of stormwater drains and thought a cat had become trapped.
Firemen and police officers soon realised that it was not a cat stuck in the drains but a newborn baby, a 2.1 kilo male child wrapped in bags and with a breathing hole. The umbilical cord was still attached.
The baby has suffered injuries, including fractures, and is now in a serious but stable condition in the Neonatal section of the General Hospital in Alicante.
The police investigation led to the discovery that there was a woman in the building who had been in an advanced state of pregnancy but was now, since June 21st, in hospital claiming that she had suffered a miscarriage at home.
After being informed why she was being arrested, the woman immediately confessed to discarding the baby, saying that she didn’t want the baby and could not afford an abortion. The police investigation is continuing to determine if any third parties were involved in the incident.