Filipino-Indonesian lovers plead guilty to dumping baby

A Filipino man and an Indonesian woman who left their newborn baby in a refuse depot pleaded guilty at the Tribunal Judicial de Base in Macau on Wednesday to separate charges.

The 30-year-old Filipino man, who worked as a waiter in a restaurant, was charged with one count of attempted aggravated murder. The 25-year-old Indonesian woman, who worked at the same restaurant, was charged with one count of abandonment, the Macau Daily News reported.

The court heard that the woman, a divorced Indonesian with a six-year-old daughter, arrived in Macau in May 2016 and worked in a restaurant where she met a married Filipino man who had a nine-year-old daughter. The two started a relationship one month later.

The woman became pregnant and gave birth in a toilet to a baby boy at 8pm on April 25, 2017. She told her boyfriend about the birth via a social messaging system and he suggested suffocating the newborn by holding a pillow over his head.

However, the woman refused to do so. She wrapped the baby in a towel and abandoned him at a refuse depot near the intersection of Avenida do Dr Francisco Vieira Machado and Travessa 1o de Maio. A cleaner at the depot later heard the baby crying and called police. The baby was sent to hospital where he was said to be in a good and stable condition.

In the court on Wednesday, the man said he regretted what had happened and claimed he did not know how to handle the situation. He added that at first had not known his girlfriend was pregnant and was not sure if he was the baby’s father. When he heard the baby boy had been born prematurely, he worried about the boy’s health and decided to abandon him.

The judge and prosecutor challenged the man’s statement as he had not mentioned any concerns about the baby’s health when he discussed the issue with his girlfriend on the social messaging system. The prosecutor said he only wanted to kill the baby. The man insisted he only wanted to abandon the newborn as he could not afford to take care of him due to a lack of money.

The baby’s mother appeared distraught and cried in the court many times. The court heard she did not want to see her baby die, so she looked for a refuse depot where people would be walking past and left him there, hoping a good Samaritan would find her child and raise him.

The court also heard that during her stay in custody, she tried to contact the social welfare department and arrange a visit to see her baby.

The woman told the judge she would raise her son after finishing her jail term, together with her former husband and family in Indonesia, who she said had forgiven her for what she’d done.

The court has yet to hand down a verdict.

Read: Filipino-Indonesian lovers dump newborn in refuse in Macau