The local press, which expected to stone a poor woman, was surprised by the images that caught a man, a medical student, discarding the baby in the trash. Mother is also a medical student. In testimony, they said they belong to ‘traditional conservative families’ and that they feared the reaction of family members when they discovered the pregnancy. Baby was found by collector of recyclable materials: “It looked like it had just been born”
A 30-week-old baby was found in a dumpster by a recyclable material collector this Wednesday morning (22) in the city of Cabedelo, in the metropolitan region of João Pessoa (PB).
Much was speculated regarding those responsible for the case, until footage from security cameras in a condominium revealed what happened. The video shows the moment a boy discards a plastic bag with a box inside in the trash. The baby’s body was inside the box.
According to the police, who appears in the images is the 21-year-old medical student Eldyr Gomes. The child’s mother, according to the portal Controversy Paraíba, would also be a medical student Suelen Laise, 22 years old. Both are students at a private college.
In a statement at the police station, the 22-year-old mother explained that she only discovered the pregnancy in early March, because it did not show typical signs. She also stated that the two families might not know regarding the pregnancy because she feared the reaction of the family members.
According to delegate Luiza Correia, the medical students claimed that a miscarriage had occurred. “The young people said in a statement that they belong to traditional conservative families in the interior of Paraíba and Pernambuco and were afraid of discovering the pregnancy. They said it was a moment of despair. The young woman will undergo tests to collect genetic material”.
An expertise carried out by the Institute of Scientific Police (IPC) confirmed that the body had no external injuries. However, other specific tests, such as the placenta and also the baby’s lungs, will be done to find out if the child was born dead or not.
“Fetus or child, this nomenclature and if it was born alive or if it was an abortion, we really depend on this technical expertise that is being produced at the IPC to tell us this: if it breathed at birth, if it was born without life, the weight, the measures, the gestational age, if the mother took any medication that she induced, so that we first typify whether it might be an abortion, a homicide or an infanticide”, added the delegate.
The recyclables collector who found the baby said that he initially thought it was a chicken, but following looking closely, he saw that it was a baby. “It was dirty and looked like it had just been born,” he reported.
The medical students were arrested, but then released because there was no situation of flagrante delicto. The case reverberated on the networks. “Rich, medical students at one of the most expensive private colleges in the state, did you want them to be locked up?” asked one user.
“Whether it was a poor peripheral and black person: jail, photo everywhere, condemnation, abuse”, noted another. “Is it just me or is the police chief trying to pass the cloth on to the couple?”, asked a third.
“The Paraíba press spent the day speculating regarding the case, eager to stone the poor woman who would have committed such an atrocity. Then they discover that the couple is a medical student and resides and lives in one of the most upscale neighborhoods in greater João Pessoa. They didn’t even divulge their names, much less their photos. Is the couple also once morest abortion, or just once morest the abortion of others?
