Minor abandons newborn baby in Torre del Mar

NATIONAL POLICE located the mother of a newborn baby abandoned on Sunday in Torre del Mar, Velez-Malaga.

The underage girl, who apparently gave birth alone intending to hide the fact from her family, has been charged with abandoning a minor.

She was taken to the Axarquia Regional Hospital as she required medical care due to the birth, and remains under police surveillance. A judge will decide whether she will be arrested.

The baby girl was found by a teenage boy at the entrance to a building in Torre del Mar, naked, with the umbilical cord and placenta still attached, and with a bag of clothes next to her. She is believed to have been less than 30 minutes old when she was found.

Neighbours called the National Police and paramedics, and the baby was also taken to the Axarquia Regional Hospital although she was in good health, except for being a little cold.

The baby, weighing 2.7 kilos, was visited by the Mayor of Velez-Malaga, Francisco Delgado Bonilla. He proposed that she be called Estrella, because she was born under a lucky star, and said that she was taking her bottle with no problem. In the area where she was found, she could easily have been bitten by a rat or a dog.

Many residents in the area, most of them gypsies, requested custody of the child who for now will be taken into care by the Junta de Andalucia. She may go into foster care or be handed over to the mother’s family.