Stillborn twins found, dumped like rubbish

UPDATE:

A corbeaux pecking at a tiny feet, led a supervisor to the horrific discovery of two dead babies inside a cardboard box at the Forres Park landfill in Claxton Bay yesterday.

Autopsies later revealed the babies were twins, a boy and a girl, and were stillborn.

The bodies were found at about 7 am by Sean Blackburn, a supervisor of the Solid Waste Management Co Ltd (SWMCOL), who was drawn to the spot by corbeaux circling a box. Blackburn alerted SWMCOL and police officers including ASP Balfour, Insp Bhagwandeen and others plus DMO Dr Vikash Ramlogan went to the landfill.

Dr Hughvon des Vignes confirmed they were fraternal twins and stillborn. There were no marks of violence. However, cause of death was undetermined. Police believe the babies’ mother may have panicked over their deaths and disposed of them in the landfill. They were checking health centres and hospitals for records of any pregnant woman who living in Forres Park and other Claxton Bay communities.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Surujdeen Persad yesterday appealed to anyone who knew the mother’s identity to contact any station. He assured that the woman will receive counselling. Scavengers yesterday said it was sad but not unusual to find foetuses among mounds of garbage, but as far as they knew, yesterday was the first time almost full-term babies were found. A photo of the ash-grey bodies was circulating on social media.

Former health minister Dr Fuad Khan yesterday again made a case for abortion legislation, saying the dead babies may have been the result of an illegal termination. He called on Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh and Prime Minister Keith Rowley to act and table an abortion bill.

“One cannot just listen to religious bodies alone because they are the Minister of Health and the Prime Minister of the whole country and their personal opinions are not counted,” Khan said.

Khan said that as a surgeon, he witnessed girls at hospitals with ruptured uterus and bowels because of illegal abortions. “There are going to be more illegal terminations, because if a girl is under 18 and pregnant, chances are she will want to protect her boyfriend, because the law now states it is statutory rape and the person who impregnates a girl under 18, could face jail. That is the law.”

The discovery yesterday comes after a full term baby girl was found in a garbage bag in the Beetham landfill in Port of Spain on August 22. Forensic pathologist Valery Alexandrov concluded the baby was mature, had no abnormalities and the umbilical cord was cut, ruling the death a homicide.

Also, on July 10, police discovered a baby girl’s body in a refrigerator at a doctor’s office in San Fernando.

The doctor was taken in for questioning by homicide officers. Police executed a search warrant at the office after the family of the mother claimed she was administered medication to induce an abortion.

ORIGINAL STORY:

Two stillborn babies, a boy and a girl, have been found in a cardboard box at the Forres Park Landfill Site in Claxton Bay. A SWMCOL supervisor found the bodies at about 7 am.

A district medical officer, who first examined the bodies at the dump, told police the babies are fraternal twins whose mother would have been eight months pregnant. Pathologist Dr Hughvon des Vignes has since confirmed the babies are twins but reports they were stillborn.

The discovery comes after a full term baby girl was found dead in the Beetham Landfill in Port of Spain on August 22.

FULL STORY IN TOMORROW'S PAPER