DNA of dumped baby matches blood found in Singapore couple's hotel room
Piece of placenta was also found in pipe of hotel room of Singapore couple that allegedly dumped newborn girl
The DNA of the newborn girl allegedly dumped by a couple from Singapore last week matched blood samples taken from the hotel room that the pair had stayed in while they were in Taipei, Taiwan.
Yesterday's confirmation from the Taiwan police comes about a week after the girl's body was discovered - in a black plastic bag with its placenta and umbilical cord intact - by an employee of a recycling company in Xindian.
Chinese-language evening daily Shin Min Daily News reported yesterday that local police also found DNA from an adult female in the plastic bag used to wrap the baby's body.
They found a small piece of placenta in the bathroom drainage pipe of the Ximending hotel room the Singapore couple were in.
The baby's body had allegedly been dumped in a food waste bin of a restaurant in Ximending and was inadvertently transported by a garbage truck to the recycling plant, some 10km away.
Investigations by local authorities, which included reviewing footage from more than 100 closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras and checking immigration records, led police to a 23-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman, who flew into Taipei from Singapore on Feb 19.
They checked into a hotel in Ximending just 40m away from the alleged dump site.
CCTV footage reportedly showed the man heading towards the restaurant where the baby was abandoned at about 3.50am on Feb 26 with a plastic bag believed to contain the baby.
The couple left Taiwan later in the afternoon.
Taiwan's state-owned Central News Agency reported yesterday that local police had collected swabs of bloodstains found in the hotel bathroom drain and tests confirmed the blood samples matched the baby girl's DNA.
AUTOPSY
An autopsy scheduled for 9am today will determine the cause and time of death of the baby, China Times reported.
This could have an impact on the charges that the perpetrators may face.
Central News Agency reported that if the baby had died before birth, the suspects could be charged with abandoning a corpse. But if she died after birth, they could be looking at additional charges of homicide and causing death by negligence.
Taiwan police told The New Paper yesterday in Mandarin: "We have not made a request to the Singapore police for assistance because the baby's cause of death is still not known.
"We need to wait until it is confirmed before taking any follow-up action."
Lawyer James Ow Yong of Kalco Law told TNP that Singapore does not have any extradition treaty or arrangement with Taiwan.
However, under Section 108A of the Penal Code, the couple may have committed the crime of abetting an offence outside Singapore, with the offence being the concealment of birth by secret disposal of dead body.
Singapore police may require the couple to provide information, blood and DNA samples in the course of investigations, Mr Ow Yong said, which may then be used in collaboration with foreign authorities.
They may be charged and sentenced in Singapore if the offences are made out, he added.
The couple have denied their involvement in the case when contacted by Shin Min in Singapore last Friday.
The pair have since become uncontactable, their parents told media here.
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