Mother who left baby at home for nine days to be investigated by ministry

GÖLCÜK

A 34-year-old mother, who works at a primary school as a teacher in Gölcük district, left her baby at home while she went to the southern province of Hatay to visit her family. DHA photo

The woman who killed her two-month-old infant by leaving him alone at home for nine days said she didn’t think he would die, while the Family and Social Policies Ministry has launched an investigation concerning her.

The 34-year-old mother, who works at a primary school as a teacher in Gölcük district, left her baby at home while she went to the southern province of Hatay to visit her family.

“My family, especially my mother, was pressuring me to spend the Eid al-Ahda holiday in Hatay. I decided I couldn’t leave my baby with anybody. So, I thought ‘I will stay in Hatay for a couple of days and come back,’” she said in her testimony seen by daily Hürriyet.

S.M.D. said her family didn’t know about her baby’s existence as they were opposed to her re-marrying again after her first marriage ended badly.

“I got pregnant with my boyfriend who is a police officer. I learnt about my pregnancy very late. I was in seesaw between giving birth or not. I thought about how to tell the situation to my family. Although I was scared, I decided to bring my son to world,” she said, stressing she took care of her baby after birth without any issues.

The mother, who was arrested by the police after bringing her son to hospital, claimed she didn’t think he was dead, adding she had been concerned about him while spending time with her family in Hatay.

“I made two bottles of baby food on the day I left for Hatay. I thought even if he would starve he would fall asleep after crying for time,” she said, claiming she didn’t have any choice as her family “would kill her if they knew about the baby.”

Meanwhile, Family and Social Policies Minister Fatma Şahin said the incident was “unacceptable” and a ministerial team would initiate an examination.

“A good scientific research is needed. Our investigation is important for the mother’s psychology as well. Our social services specialists will work and will provide information later,” she said, while answering reporters’ questions on Oct. 22.

The minister has already ordered a team from Ankara to go to Gölcük to search for the details of the issue, daily Hürriyet reported.

The mother, who discovered the baby motionless and took him to hospital when she arrived home after nine days, was arrested by a court after being detained by police.

When she brought the two-month old to the hospital, the doctors found that the baby had been dead for at least three days, and immediately informed the police. None of the neighbors said they heard the baby crying, but only one of them said they had noticed a bad smell during the first days of the holiday.

According to the initial autopsy, the baby died of thirst and hunger. The baby’s body was sent to the Istanbul forensic medicine institution to determine the exact cause of death.