‘Doll’ turns out to be dead baby

KUCHING: Two teenagers thought that they had stumbled across a child’s doll inside a monsoon drain, only to make the horrific discovery that the ‘doll’ was in fact a dead newborn.

Boys run when they realise their find was not a doll

DESPICABLE ACT: A forensics police officer inspects the newborn’s body.

“We thought it was a doll at first until my friend prodded it with a stick and shouted to me that it was real,” said Raymond Rawing, 13, recounting his shocking find at Stutong community market in Tabuan Jaya yesterday.

He and a friend, who identified himself only as Ruzzie, were strolling along the water-logged drain towards the wet market around 2:50pm when the former spotted a pair of tiny legs.

Out of curiosity, the boys, who are classmates at SMK Tabuan Jaya, decided to take a closer look. Ruzzie jumped into the drain and used a stick that he was carrying to poke the legs.

Once he realised that it was a dead baby, Ruzzie said he scrambled out as fast as he could and together with Raymond, ran towards the market to get help.

They coincidentally bumped into a patrolling police team at the market and related their find, prompting CID officers and a forensics unit from district police headquarters to descend onto the scene within minutes.

Scores of people gathered to watch as police conducted their investigation, with several expressing their disgust over the incident.

“How could anyone be so heartless as to do such a despicable thing?” asked one woman, who declined to be named, as others standing around her nodded in agreement.

When contacted yesterday, district police chief, ACP Mun Kock Keong, confirmed the incident and said the case had been classified under Section 318 of the Penal Code.

“Our initial findings show that it was a girl and she was believed to have been thrown away within the past 24 hours,” he said.

Mun added that a bath towel was also found next to the body. It was probably thrown into the drain together with the infant.

He appealed to anyone with information about the case to contact the nearest police station.

The infant’s body is now at the Sarawak General Hospital mortuary pending a post mortem.

Update: The suspect who committed the throw-away was detained. The news can be read here: www.theborneopost.com/?p=15239