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Aerial view of A.Dh. Dhigurah: Murdered infant was found in trash at the island.

Mother of dead baby in Dhigurah garbage dump charged

After giving birth, the alleged removed the child from the toilet bowl, put it in trash bags, dumped the little body in a green dustbin meant for biodegradable.

17 January 2024

By Aishath Fareeha Abdulla

The Prosecutor General's Office has sent a case against a Sri Lankan woman who threw her baby in a garbage dump after giving birth in A.Dh. Dhigurah.

On the morning of the 3rd of last month, a newborn was found dumped in a bag in the garbage area in Dhigurah. The child's mother, Hiranya Kumudumali de Alwis, 30, was arrested while on her way to the airport to leave for Sri Lanka. The woman was remanded in custody pending trial and prosecutors sent her to court on Tuesday.

The prosecution has requested three charges against Hiranya.

  • Charge of voluntary manslaughter; the punishment for this offense is 10 to 25 years in prison

  • A charge of intentionally committing an act that may harm the health of a child while being a person responsible for providing protection to the child; the punishment for this offense is three years in prison

  • Charged with knowingly concealing a death; the punishment for this offense is nine months and 18 days in jail

The motion to prosecute Hiranya addresses that:

  • She gave birth to the baby between 10 pm on December 1 and 5 am on December 3, after keeping her pregnancy a secret

  • She gave birth in a toilet bowl in a local house

After giving birth, the alleged removed the child from the toilet bowl, put it in trash bags, dumped the little body in a green dustbin meant for biodegradable waste outside a thatch shed facing Fareedhee road in Dhigurah and killed the child.

The petitioner also said that since the time Hiranya found out she was pregnant, necessary precautions were not taken to ensure the health of the child and instead of taking such measures, she kept it a secret and would not go to the hospital where she could get medical care for delivery.

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