A 37-year-old woman, who claims she didn’t know she was pregnant, give birth to a baby at a Cape Town police station after being arrested for drug possession.
|||Cape Town - A baby was born behind bars at the Milnerton Police Station cells this week.
The baby’s mother, 37, was arrested for drug possession in Milnerton on Wednesday and later told officers she was unaware she was pregnant.
The mother and child were taken to Somerset Hospital, where they were found to be in good health.
Police officers nicknamed the boy “Phumelelo”, which is Zulu for “survivor”. They also gave his mother a bag of clothing and nappies.
Yesterday, police issued a statement on their Facebook page about the unusual delivery. It said that on Thursday, at 10am, a guard at the Milnerton police station holding cells heard cries for help.
“The cell guard investigated and found the suspect giving birth,” the statement said.
A captain and clerk “found the prisoner had already given birth to a boy, who was lying on a blanket.
The suspect said she was unaware she was pregnant”.
She was to have appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Friday. The suspect was released on a warning and given a court date next month.
Weekend Argus