The Juvenile Court has acquitted a woman who police alleged killed her newborn baby, ruling that her three confessions contradicted each other.
Police alleged that at 2:00 on July 16, the then 16-year old woman drowned the baby after giving birth in the bathroom of her home, before putting its body into a plastic bag and throwing it into a lagoon on the south side of Dhanbidhoo in Laamu atoll.
The court noted that according to article 52 of the constitution, no confession is admissible as evidence unless made in court by an accused who is in a sound state of mind.
Haveeru reported that police checked all women on the island between the ages of 12 and 45 in the island after the dead infant was discovered in the lagoon.
16 yr old 'woman'? You meant girl right?
OK. Haveeru News explained it much clearer. She was a 16 yr old minor when she was accused. Today she is 21, an adult. Can Minivan News please edit this article to clarify these details? And could you please change 16 yr old 'woman' to 'girl'? Also the last line to something more appropriate, like women and girls?
@BFM Sixteen year old minors do not perform sexual acts? Then how did she become pregnant in the 1st place? And did you know that she got another illegitimate baby after that even? Doesn't that show what kind of morality she has? If she she has the know-how to have sex with someone else, she should be treated as an adult; not a child. Children do not go round having sex with anyone who is willing. Have some respect for religion. our religion does not tolerate these kinds of acts. If serious action is taken against these people then tour beloved nation will become clean and will not lead towards a nest for AIDS.
why would the court acquit a woman who's three confessions contradicted each other. Isn't it grounds for suspicion.
That is not the point, Alibeyya. It is recognizing that she is a girl. Nothing about her morality or the punishment due is implied in my comment.
My point is, when all the newspapers today recognize minors who commit crimes as minors, this girl deserves the same.
But as I said, she is a woman of 21 years now. Thanks.
What a horrible story.
I would beg you readers to hesitate before casting judgement on the girl.
It would take dreadful circumstances to make any mother kill her child.
An example might be that she wanted to hide the baby because she had been raped by her father - she would not go to the police because of loyalty to him, and wishing to keep it secret from her mother. Things like this are rare but more common than you might think.
Alibeyyaa,
You're rather quick to jump to conclusions about the girls morality.
It's not morality alone that decides whether a minor gets pregnant - it could just as easily have been ignorance, or puppy love, or blackmail, or rape.
It's petty and presumptuous to look at any action that you think falls out of your set moral boundaries - and proclaim that person a sinner.
Unless I'm mistaken and your religion is not Islam, I doubt you have the authority to cast such judgment on the girl - or anybody else for that matter.
Furthermore, this case is not about a teen getting pregnant - it is whether she killed a newborn, which is a very serious allegation.
I wonder if your moral boundaries consider possible murder and acquisition a worse crime than a child's for getting pregnant.