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NEWS: The baby abandoned in a drain has been named by his mother.

Police have now charged the baby’s mother.

 

 

 

 

 Update:

The mother of a baby left in a Sydney drain last week has been allowed to name the little boy.

News.com.au reports that the mother yesterday gave the child a “biblical name” which is associated with one of the most infamous child death cases in Australian history. For legal reasons, the name cannot be given.

Yesterday, it emerged that the 30-year-old Samoan woman hid her pregnancy from her family — with the Daily Telegraph reporting the woman broke up with a boyfriend in the early stages of her pregnancy this year and hid it from him

She yesterday appeared in Blacktown Local Court, charged with attempted murder. In court, police said the woman had admitted she put “the less than 24-hour-old baby down a 2.4m drain knowing it may kill the baby”.

News.com.au reports the court heard the woman, who lives in Quakers Hill and whose immediate family lives in Samoa, had no community ties and was a flight risk. 

The baby, who remains in a stable condition at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead, will remain in the care of the state.

Update: The 30-year old mother of the newborn boy found yesterday in a drain has been charged with attempted murder.

Police tracked down the woman after checking hospital records of new births.

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She will appear in court today.

It is thought the baby was in the drain for five days.

The Sydney Morning Herald has spoken to one of the passers-by who found the baby 2.4 metres down a drain. “I’ve got two kids of my own, so I know what a screaming baby sounds like”, said Mr Otter. “It was so intense, you couldn’t not tell it was a baby”.

Mamamia previously reported:  

The discovery of a newborn baby boy dumped in drain in Sydney’s north west this morning has sparked an urgent manhunt for the child’s parents.

Cyclists riding along the M7 Motorway cycleway were the first to hear the baby’s cries from the bottom of a 2.4m-deep drain in Quaker’s Hill at around 7:30am.

It took six men including three police officers to lift the concrete slab covering the drain, which weighed over 200kg. Underneath, they found the newborn baby wrapped in a hospital blanket, with a peg still attached to his umbilical cord.

“When I arrived there were several bike riders, cyclists and pedestrians standing around the drain. Myself and several other police have come up, we heard something coming from the drain,” Senior Constable McAlister said.

Witnesses say that a man of Indian appearance wearing an orange shirt was spotted in the area moments before the baby’s cries were heard.

“How could someone do it? I, myself, have kids and we’re expecting a baby in a few more months so it’s not good that someone’s going through this and has done this to a little one,” Senior Constable McAlister told The Daily Telegraph.

The drain where the baby was found

“It was a bit surreal really. It’s great that someone actually stopped and heard it and had the initiative to give us a call.”

Inspector David Lagats also attended the scene and said the baby was estimated to be between two and three days old. He was also malnourished but was receiving medical assistance.

Inspector Lagats said that the little boy had no obvious signs of injury but that he has been taken to Westmead Children’s Hospital for further tests.

“I was quite relieved, but quite concerned,” said Inspector Lagats.

Police say that it was unlikely the boy would have survived through today’s soaring temperatures in Sydney.

Anyone with information about the identity of the child, or how he came to be in the drain, is urged to contact police.