It was a shock for residents and firefighters to discover a newborn baby abandoned on the floor of the open space of the lightwell of a multi-storey building in Katerini, central Greece. The resident of the apartment in the first floor had heard from the bathroom room some weird noise, “like coming from a whining kitten”. The resident called the fire brigades to rescue the kitten… but…
When they rescuers arrived they discovered that it was no kitten but a baby, a 2-3 day old baby girl left in the cold concrete floor of the shaft. The newborn was wrapped in with cloths and had bruises on the legs. the baby had still the umbilical cord on.
The baby was taken to Emergency in Thessaloniki and is now hospitalized. It is reportedly in good health.
Police investigation found the mother, a 26-year-old woman of Albanian nationality who was temporarily be hosted in their parents’ home on the first floor of the building.
It was the mother’s father who discovered the baby and called the ‘rescuers’.
According to media, the mother gave birth to the child on Sunday night and almost immediately abandoned the baby. The grandfather discovered it on Monday night.
The mother has four more children and allegedly told police that a fifth child would be a burden.
Her parents were not aware of her pregnancy neither seem to be involved in the incident.
Police has detained the mother and is expected to arrest her on charges of “infanticide attempt”.
