The place where the abandoned female infant was found had been flushed with water.
By Wang Jianping, Li Guohui of Xin Kuai Bao, and intern reporter Wu Shulin
The baby was premature, currently judged to be either a preterm birth or an abortion after which it was abandoned.
A child's life disappeared in a cold night, she didn't even have a name. Who drove her to the end of her life? And who threw her away by the roadside?
At around 6 a.m. on the morning of the day before yesterday, at the intersection near Xiejiazhongyue in Tangchong of Baiyun District, a premature female infant was found discarded by the roadside in a red small plastic bag. Yesterday, some media reported that the corpse of the female infant had been run over by a car wheel. However, after identification by the Guangzhou police, this claim was denied, and it was preliminarily determined that the death was due to a preterm birth. But because no clues related to the identity of the female infant were found at the scene, the case became mysterious for the time being.
This is the second case within a short month in Guangzhou where an infant was abandoned by the roadside.
Unspeakable Scene
Thought to be garbage, passersby walked away covering their noses. "It's too cruel, I dare not look!" This is what many witnesses said repeatedly to reporters. The infant was thrown away by the roadside in front of a medium-sized supermarket. Although it has been more than a whole day since the incident, when reporters arrived at the scene yesterday noon, the supermarket employees were still washing the bloodstains in front of the door.
"At first, none of us thought it was a child, we just thought it was a bag of garbage," said Mr. Wu, a Hunanese who runs a small supermarket at the intersection. "At 6:30 a.m. the day before yesterday, my family and I got up, opened the door, and saw a red plastic bag containing something on the opposite side of the road, with a few pieces of paper nearby. Because there are always some garbage on the road every morning, we did not pay much attention."
After about ten minutes, Mr. Wu's wife heard students going to school shouting: "What is this thing, so smelly, and there is blood..." She was also surprised, seeing some students and passersby walking around the red plastic bag while covering their noses. Blood coming out shocked the discovery of the infant's body until then, everyone realized that this plastic bag was unusual, "the blood came from the plastic bag", some brave people opened the plastic bag, and were shocked to find that there was actually a child inside. "The child looked very small, premature, weighing about four or five pounds, covered in blood, with black hair, and seemed already dead."
Everyone was somewhat horrified, yet did not know what to do, thus, "the child lay on the roadside all the time."
At 7 a.m., someone reported the incident to the police. After the police arrived, they cordoned off the scene.
Unsolvable Mystery
When was the baby abandoned?
A sanitation worker revealed to the reporter that he did not see the red plastic bag when he passed by the section at around 5 a.m. that day. The supermarket owner discovered the red plastic bag at 6:30 a.m., thus it can be inferred that the female infant was abandoned by the roadside between 5 a.m. and 6:30 a.m.
Who threw the baby by the roadside?
So far, no one has come forward saying they witnessed someone abandoning the baby. The reporter observed that above the scene of the abandonment, only two meters away, there was a "24-hour surveillance video" device facing the scene of the abandonment. A security guard responsible for video surveillance at the Tangchong Community Governance and Security Association said that the surveillance equipment broke down a week ago and has not been operational since. For this reason, the police have not yet been able to find the suspect who abandoned the baby.
Why abandon the baby?
The reporter learned from relevant experts that there are two possibilities for the death of a premature infant: one is that the mother gives birth prematurely and the infant dies shortly after, the other is that the mother chooses to have an abortion before the baby is born.
Director Peng of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department at Xinshi Hospital in Baiyun District said that in a regular hospital, whether it is a premature infant who died or an aborted infant, there will be specialized staff and vehicles to transport and handle them; and there is supervision by health departments, so it is impossible for a dead infant to be thrown by the roadside. Therefore, it cannot be ruled out that there is the following possibility: a pregnant woman goes to a private clinic for a premature birth or abortion, and either the clinic or the woman herself disposes of the female infant's body.
The reporter learned that the Tangchong community where the incident occurred is a large urban village, surrounded by many clothing factories and handbag factories, with more than 100,000 migrant workers. A security guard in the community revealed to the reporter that there had been several incidents here before where dead infants were abandoned by the roadside. A factory boss said: "Some working girls leave home, develop feelings with others, accidentally get pregnant, don't know how to deal with it, go to private clinics to terminate the pregnancy, and then discard the baby carelessly."
■ Police
Preliminary judgment of death due to premature birth
According to the police, after the incident, the traffic police arrived at the scene first to handle it. After confirming that there were no traces of the female infant being run over by a car wheel and excluding any connection to a traffic accident, the case was transferred to the police officers for handling. After autopsy, the police preliminarily judged that the female infant was extremely likely to have died after a premature birth and was then discarded by the roadside. But since no clues proving her identity were found on her, the real situation related to her remains unclear at present.
Obstetrics Director:
"Ignorance of medicine" triggers tragedy
Director Peng of the Obstetrics Department at Xinshi Hospital in Baiyun District said that the reason why some women choose private clinics for childbirth or abortion is mostly due to their ignorance of medical knowledge, and another reason is that most of them are young and shy.
Director Peng said that for a pregnant woman undergoing an abortion at the hospital, showing her ID card and having signatures from both her boyfriend and herself is enough. "Choosing a private clinic is very dangerous, as these black clinics have poor medical conditions, easily leading to post-abortion complications such as heavy bleeding and retained placenta in women, endangering lives. If the abortion surgery isn't clean, it can also easily cause infertility and other sequela."