Lawyers call for release of mother who abandoned newborn baby in bin

A group of lawyers filed a request with the Supreme Court for the immediate release of the young mother who left her son in a dumpster, as they consider her pre-trial detention to be “absolutely illegal”.

In a statement to Lusa, Varela de Matos, one of the lawyers, said that the group, which includes a dozen citizens, namely lawyers, non-lawyers and retired magistrates, think that the crime that the mother has committed “is not the one that is most frequently referred to, but that of abandonment, which does not carry pre-trial detention”. The crime which many have called for the woman to be sentenced to is attempted murder, not abandonment.

“None of the presuppositions established by law was verified and therefore we conclude that imprisonment is absolutely illegal and that the State intervened with its punitive function and not with its welfare function, which is what it should have done,” explained Mr. Matos.

By law, the Supreme Court of Justice has eight days make a decision regarding the habeas corpus the group has submitted.

The baby was found in a dumpster in the Alcântara area of Lisbon on Tuesday of last week, still with traces of the umbilical cord.

The 22-year-old homeless woman who was the mother of the child was arrested, heard on Friday in the first judicial questioning and is awaiting trial in pre-trial detention, accused of attempted murder.

Also on Friday, in declarations to the Lusa agency, the president of the child support institute, Dulce Rocha, also defended that the crime in question is that of “abandonment” and not attempted murder.

According to Mrs. Rocha, the mother had found herself in a vulnerable situation that led her to abandon her son: “This mother is very alone, very desperate, without family support”.

The president of the IAC also argues that “there are no signs” or proof, such as injuries or signs of asphyxiation, which would possibly indicate attempted murder.