Newborn left to die in bar toilet

Newborn left to die in bar toilet

SINGAPORE - A Pennsylvanian woman gave birth to a son in the toilet of a sports bar, then abandoned him to die in the cistern, the authorities in the US state said on Monday.

Amanda Catherine Hein was arrested and held without bail on one count of murder in the death of her baby last week, AP reported.

She faces the death sentence.

Hein said she realised she was pregnant in May or June, but told no one about it. None of the friends with her on that day knew about it.

A cleaning crew found the baby's body on August 19 at Starters Pub in Bethlehem, about 90km north of Philadelphia.

The authorities said the baby was at 33 to 36 weeks gestation and could have lived.

An autopsy found the baby was born alive, the Northampton County coroner said.

In an interview with police, the 26-year-old woman admitted giving birth to the baby boy in the restroom a night earlier, wrapping him in a plastic bag from a garbage container and placing him in the toilet tank, court documents said.

District Attorney John Morganelli said Hein was watching the WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view wrestling event with several other people when she complained of back pain and excused herself, AP reported.

She was gone for so long that her friends sent her text messages to check on her whereabouts.

One of the men told police she eventually returned to their table, and then got her purse and went outside to smoke.

The man added that he saw that she was bleeding and asked if she needed to go to hospital, but she told him she did not have insurance.

After Hein allegedly dumped her child, she stayed at the bar for another hour, the Daily Mail reported.

Later, a cleaner checked the toilet after receiving complaints that it would not flush.

Wrapped in plastic bag

He found Hein's child wrapped in a plastic bag, submerged in the toilet tank.

After the discovery of the child in the toilet, employees at Starters Pub told police they remembered having to clean up blood at one of the booths on Aug 17, the Daily Mail reported.

Managers at the bar were able to look up who had reserved the booth, and this led detectives to one Luis Rivera, one of Hein's friends. Mr Rivera then led police to Hein.

Starters owner David Rank said his employees were left traumatised by the incident.

He said: 'My biggest concern is for my employees, the mother, the baby. I just want everyone to say prayers for them."


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