KANGAR: Police have arrested an Indonesian maid to assist an investigation into the discovery of a decomposing body of a newborn baby buried in a shallow grave behind a house in Taman Mutiara here on Dec 30.
The 28-year-old single mother was arrested a day after the gruesome finding by a teacher who followed a foul stench behind his house.
Kangar police chief Assistant Commissioner Yusharifuddin Mohd Yusop said the 44-year-old teacher discovered the decomposing body at about 10.30am on Saturday upon checking on a foul stench behind his house.
"The teacher followed the stench and dug up the soil behind his home and made a shocking discovery of a decomposing body of a newborn baby boy wrapped in a white cloth.
"The teacher immediately rushed to Kangar police station and lodged his report. Checks showed that the body was buried in a 0.127meter hole. The spot where the body was found is a vacant and unfenced land," he said when contacted.
Yusharifuddin added that the baby's umbilical cord was still attached to the 46cm body.
He said following the discovery, police have picked up the Indonesian woman working as a domestic helper with a family in Mutiara Jaya here.
"Investigations revealed that the woman had given birth to the baby boy on Dec 20. Upon noticing that the baby had died, the woman buried the body at the site before it was discovered 10 days later," he said.
Yusharifuddin said the woman had arrived in this country in May last year for work but was not aware that she was already pregnant.
"She had given birth to the baby on Dec 20 at about noon in the bathroom at level three of the house in Jalan Mutiara Jaya.
"She noticed that the baby was not breathing when she tried to bathe him. Panicked and clueless on what to do, she decided to take her son's body and buried him at the backyard of a neighbour's house at about 6.30am a day later," he said.
He said a post morterm on the body was conducted at the Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital in Alor Star, Kedah on Dec 31.
"The autopsy report revealed that the baby was about 32 weeks old and there was no sign of physical or internal injury found on the body. The body was badly decomposed when it was discovered," he said.
He added that checks showed that the woman has two children in her hometown placed under the care of her mother-in-law.
Today, police obtained a two-day remand extension against the woman for further investigation for concealing a birth.