Homeless man discovers lifeless body of newborn in trash

Police say that they are not yet close to finding the person(s) responsible for disposing of a newborn baby boy, in a drum in Kingstown last week.{{more}}

But they say they are confident that with the help of the public, they would be able to crack what could be the first homicide of 2013.

Assistant Superintendant of Police Sydney James, head of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), told SEARCHLIGHT yesterday that the case is being treated as a concealment of birth, and not a homicide, until the cause of death of the infant is determined.

“If it was alive at birth, it will be considered a homicide for sure.”

Francis Lewis, a homeless man, rummaging through a drum containing garbage, made the gruesome discovery, shortly after 5 p.m. Thursday, near the abandoned construction site of the British American Insurance building, next to the Income Tax building.

The construction site was featured in SEARCHLIGHT just months ago, after comptroller of the Inland Revenue Department Kelvin Pompey complained that the structure harboured illicit activities, termites, and garbage.

The CID chief appealed to the public to be vigilant, and report to them any information that could lead to the mother of the child, and throw light on the reason for the baby being placed in the garbage bin.

“With the help of the public we should be able to find the mother of the child,” he said.

“People in the neighbourhood might have seen someone with a big belly, and then suddenly she will be flat, and you will see them with no baby. These things might give us a lead.”

A photo circulating on social networks shows a baby lying face down, partially wrapped in what appears to be a garbage bag, with its umbilical cord visible.

James confirmed that the umbilical cord was still attached when the baby was discovered.

Meanwhile, just over a week ago, police in Barbados discovered the decomposed body of a baby boy, wrapped in a sheet, in a chest of draws.

Two days before that, a newborn baby boy was left outside the St Mary’s Children’s Home, an orphanage, in Tacarigua, Trinidad. The child’s 32-year-old mother abandoned him.