Grandmother burns, buries teenager’s aborted foetus

08.MAR.07

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO – A 17-year-old girl aborted a baby that her grandmother burned and buried in a backyard grave last week, police said Monday.

The 67-year-old grandmother said she tried disposing of the foetus because she was confused and fearful.{{more}}

Police learned of the buried body from the expectant mother’s 22-year-old boyfriend, who filed a report.

The girl is now a patient at the San Fernando General Hospital. She once attended a prestige school but dropped out to move in with the man.

At her home at Lowkie Trace, Penal, Trinidad Monday, the grandmother apologised for her actions.

“All my years I never went to a police station, and now in my old age I get myself in this trouble. I had to be stupid to know something was not right.”

Police have information that a doctor helped the girl abort the foetus. The case is posing a dilemma to police. A person can be charged with cremating a body without permission, but a foetus is not recognised as a person.

The grandmother lives with her husband and the teenage girl. She said she raised the girl since she was one month old.

Police were told that the girl found out she was pregnant three weeks ago and when the baby was lost, the child was 14 weeks old.

On February 23, the girl is said to have left home and returned that night without telling where she had been. At 10 p.m., the grandmother found the girl in pain in bed, and the foetus on the bloodied sheets. She said she begged the girl to go to hospital but the girl refused. The baby was wrapped in sheets and disposed of the following day.

Police recovered the remains on Saturday. (Trinidad Express)