KUCHING, Nov 11 — The Magistrates’ Court here today ordered a teenage couple to undergo three years in separate reform schools for dumping their new-born baby last August.
Magistrate Zaiton Anuar made the ruling after examining the report submitted by the Welfare Department.
Zaiton ordered the 15-year-old father attend Henry Gurney School in Puncak Borneo, while the 16-year-old mother will attend Sekolah Tunas Bakti Miri as stipulated under Section 91(1)(f) of the Child Act 2001.
On October 12, the teenagers had pleaded guilty to a charge under Section 317 of the Penal Code, which was read together with Section 34 of the same Code.
They were jointly charged for leaving their baby girl in the basket of a motorcycle with the intention of dumping her.
They committed the act around 5am on August 26 at an unnumbered house in Jalan Siol Kandis, Petra Jaya, here.
Based on the facts of the case, a villager found the baby alive, wrapped in a piece of cloth with her umbilical cord still intact, in his wife’s motorcycle basket.
The villager then lodged a police report, which led to the arrest of the teens at 8.50am and 10am respectively at their houses in Petra Jaya.
Insp Merylene Lindan Andrew Mang prosecuted, while the teens were unrepresented by counsel. — Borneo Post
