THE woman who told police she found a newborn baby girl abandoned in a box along a South Oropouche roadway has been identified as the infant’s mother and is now in police custody as investigators probe whether a crime was committed.

The 23-year-old woman initially claimed she discovered the baby inside a black plastic bag in a cardboard box last Thursday. Police sources reported investigators subsequently questioned her about the circumstances surrounding the child’s discovery and she eventually admitted that she was the mother. The development has raised questions about the circumstances in which the baby was left at the roadside and whether the woman’s actions amount to a criminal offence.

The newborn girl is now in the care of the Children’s Authority and is being kept in the paediatric unit of the San Fernando General Hospital while the investigation continues.