Singapore couple investigated by Taiwanese police for dumping newborn
Baby girl's body found by worker at recycling plant 10km from Ximending, where it was allegedly abandoned
A couple from Singapore are being investigated by Taiwanese authorities for allegedly dumping the body of a newborn baby girl in a food waste bin in Ximending, in Taipei, last month.
In a case that has taken the Taiwanese media by storm, the newborn's body was discovered in a black plastic bag last Tuesday by an employee of a recycling company in New Taipei City's Xindian District, about 10km south of where she was reportedly dumped, Taiwanese newspaper China Times reported.
The employee found the body - with placenta and umbilical cord still intact - when he opened the bag while sorting through the food waste.
Investigations by local police revealed that the baby was dumped in a food waste bin outside a barbecue restaurant in Ximending, a popular tourist district, the paper reported.
Closed-circuit television footage from the area showed a man with gold hair and dressed in black holding a black plastic bag, thought to have contained the body, and walking towards the restaurant at about 3am on Feb 26.
Chinese daily Shin Min Daily News reported on Friday that local police reviewed footage from more than a hundred closed-circuit cameras and interviewed employees of businesses near the restaurant, with all clues pointing to a couple from Singapore who had flown into Taipei on Feb 19.
The pair, a 23-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman, had checked into a hotel just 40m from where the baby was reportedly dumped.
They flew back the same day the baby was discovered, leaving Taiwan at about 4.30pm.
The Singapore Police Force (SPF) confirmed with The New Paper that they have been in touch with Taiwanese authorities over the case and are waiting for an official request on the assistance needed.
"We are unable to comment further as investigations by Taiwanese authorities are ongoing," said an SPF spokesman.
TNP understands that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is also aware of the case.
Taiwan's state-owned Central News Agency reported on Saturday that local police are waiting for DNA test results to determine if blood found in the hotel bathroom belongs to the mother of the abandoned baby.
Police collected swabs of bloodstains and evidence from the room the couple stayed in.
The Central New Agency reported that if the DNA comparison confirms a parent-child relationship, the case will be passed on to the Taipei District Prosecutors Office, and Taiwan's Criminal Investigation Bureau will send an official letter to ask the SPF for assistance.
According to news channel TVBS, the baby weighed about 3kg and was about 50cm long.
An autopsy will be conducted tomorrow to determine if she was alive prior to being abandoned.
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