Request to detain mother of abandoned dead newborn denied

Taipei, April 4 (CNA) The Chiayi District Court has rejected a request from prosecutors to detain the mother of an infant who was found dead in a cardboard box in front of an abandoned house in Chiayi County's Budai Township on Wednesday.

The Chiayi District Prosecutors Office filed a motion with the court on Thursday to have the woman detained, arguing that she was suspected of serious crimes such as abandonment causing death and that there was a high possibility that she would flee and destroy evidence.

The court decided to reject the request for several reasons even though she was allegedly involved in a serious crime that would normally warrant a detention, and ordered the woman released without bail, it said later that day.

Among them, the mother has confessed that she abandoned the newborn's body, and given her poor finances and "strong bonds" with her young daughter and parents, there is no concern that she would flee.

Moreover, after learning her newborn had died, the mother cleaned the body and even placed it in a clean cardboard box, the court noted, saying that the action was aligned with her expressed intention of a farewell, making it hard to see it as destroying evidence.

Finally, the court cited the intent of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which indicates that a mother who gave birth within the previous two months should not be detained unless necessary, as another reason to not detain the woman.

Police located the mother on Thursday, one day after the body of a male newborn was found in a cardboard box abandoned in front of a deserted residential house in Budai. After questioning, police transferred her to prosecutors for further investigation.

The infant is scheduled for an autopsy on April 9 to clarify the exact cause of death.

According to the Budai Precinct, a township resident saw the body of an infant in a partially-covered cardboard box on Wednesday morning while preparing to ride a motorcycle to work.

The individual called police at once, but they did not take the infant to a hospital because he was "obviously dead."

A preliminary examination found no visible injuries on the infant, but livor mortis had set in and the umbilical cord remained attached, investigators said.

With no reports of nearby residents hearing any crying, the baby was likely already dead when abandoned, they said.

Investigators believe the mother, who is married and raises a toddler, was able to conceal the pregnancy from her family due to her physique, and police said she did not undergo any prenatal checkups.

Currently it is unknown if the baby was stillborn in late March or died postpartum.