A 21-year-old woman is being detained due to suspicion of killing her newborn child; the police found the baby in a dumpster on Laugavegur in Reykjavík on Saturday. Doctors in the emergency room alerted the police after the woman came to the University Hospital in Fossvogur with abdominal pains and bleeding; she did not admit to having given birth to a child.
The woman came to the emergency room Saturday morning with her fiancé and based on her condition doctors were convinced she had given birth to a child. The police immediately began investigating and searching for the infant; they searched the woman’s home and her place of work.
The child was found dead in a dumpster by the hotel where the mother has been employed as a maid for the last four months; authorities believe the child was alive when it was born in the hotel. An autopsy has not been performed and the cause of death is unknown.
The police told RÚV the woman hid her pregnancy from everybody who knew her, including her fiancé.
The hotel manager told RÚV that her co-workers at the hotel did not know about the pregnancy.
Article 212 of Criminal Law states clearly that if a mother is responsible for her infant’s death due to fear, distress or confused state of mind she can expect to be sentenced to up to six years of imprisonment.
From the Reykjavík District Court
In addition to detention, the Reykjavík District Court ordered the woman to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. The fiancé was released from custody today.
