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Teen leaves newborn at closed daycare to write exams

'I am coming to get him in the evening'
A young mother left her baby at a daycare centre with a note saying she would fetch him after writing her exams, unaware that the daycare had closed its doors.
Tuyeimo Haidula
A grade 11 learner who left her newborn baby boy in a daycare in Ondangwa on Tuesday, which unbeknownst to her was no longer in operation, has been found.

The 19-year-old told the police that she left the baby at the daycare centre because she had to rush to write an exam. She didn’t know at the time that the place had closed down and she had planned to pick up the child after writing the exams.

She had placed the baby in a carton box covered with a blanket and dressed in a warm sweater, along with a note that read: "Keep him, please. I am coming to get him in the evening.”

She also wrote the date of her son’s birth – 19 August – on the note.

Police investigate

Oshana Police's crime investigation coordinator, Deputy Commissioner Frederick Ndjadila, said a case of child abandonment and neglect has been opened by the police in Ondangwa.

Ndjadila said the baby was found by neighbours who lived next to the former daycare centre.

Ndjadila said the two notes that the mother placed in the box alongside her newborn stressed she would pick him up later as well as his date of birth.

When the young mother returned later that day to fetch her son, she discovered he was missing and began desperately searching for him. This is when the people who had found the child notified her that he had been taken for a check-up and the police had been alerted.

The baby was taken to Onandjokwe Hospital and a social worker from the gender and child welfare ministry in Ondangwa has been brought in to assist with care for the newborn and the mother.

Ndjadila said while the mother is receiving care at Onandjokwe Hospital, her parents were traced and are currently with her.

He added that the suspect has not yet been arrested, but a summons will be issued to secure her attendance in court.

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-24

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