A mother was arrested on Sunday for dumping her newborn baby boy next to a waste compactor near the Barrier Gate checkpoint the previous day, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Lou Chan Fai said at a press conference yesterday.

Lou identified the suspect, surnamed Lo, as a 29-year-old local female who told the police she’s unemployed and living with her boyfriend.

According to Lou, a street cleaner reported to the police at 8 p.m. on Saturday that she had found a baby wrapped in towels and placed inside a cardboard box next to a waste compactor. 

Lou said the waste compactor is located at the crossroads between Rua Dois do Bairro Va Tai and Avenida do Almirante Lacerda near the Barrier Gate. Lou also told the press that when the police arrived, they discovered the baby still had his umbilical cord attached, and he was taken to the public Conde S. Januário Hospital Centre immediately. 

Besides the baby’s temperature being a bit lower than usual, he was doing fine, said Lou.

Launching an investigation into the incident, Lou said that the Judiciary Police identified Lo with the help of the citywide CCTV surveillance system and the shop near the waste compactor. According to Lou, the Judiciary Police arrested Lo the next day when she was on her way home in the central district. During the investigation, Lou said the mother revealed that she had abandoned the baby because she could not afford to raise him, and that the baby’s father was not the mother’s current boyfriend.

 Lou underlined that Lo did not wish to reveal her pregnancy to her boyfriend and when he questioned her weight gain, she lied to him saying she was simply putting on weight, because she did not want to upset or enrage him.

Lou added that Lo’s usual chubby appearance and her habit of dressing in loose clothing helped her  conceal the truth from her boyfriend, while the police also revealed that the suspect has an 8-year-old daughter who is living with her ex-boyfriend. 

Lou told the press that after Lo gave birth to her baby alone at her home on Saturday afternoon, she cut the umbilical cord, cleaned herself and her son and then took a short nap. When Lo woke up, she walked to the Barrier Gate with her baby wrapped in towels. Lou said that when she reached the waste compactor and wandered around for a while, she eventually left him behind in a cardboard box next to the waste compactor at around 5 p.m. 

According to Lou, after Lo left her baby, she went to the mainland through the Barrier Gate checkpoint. After she returned to Macau the next day at 4 p.m., Lou said the police apprehended her near her home in the central district, and the police also found the baby’s placenta and blood-stained items inside a rubbish depository near her home.

Lou noted that at the time of the press conference yesterday afternoon the baby’s biological father was still unknown, adding that the police are trying to find him through DNA testing, with the mother who was sent to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday facing a child-abandonment charge.

According to Article 135 of the Macau Penal Code, the suspect faces between two and five years behind bars. 

This video capture from CCTV footage shows the suspect dumping her newborn next to a waste compactor close to the Barrier Gate checkpoint on Saturday. Image: MPDG