Singapore—A Singaporean man and woman who allegedly put a newborn infant in a trash bin while they were in Taipei last year announced their engagement over social media on Saturday (Oct 24).
The case of the discarded newborn was first brought to the attention of the public in early March of last year, when news reports from Taiwan said that the body of an infant girl was found in the early hours of Feb 26, 2019.
Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported that a worker found the baby’s body wrapped in a plastic bag and placed in a kitchen waste bucket. The bucket had been brought by a garbage truck to Xindian from Taipei on Feb 26, according to the police in Xindian.
On March 3, Taiwanese police confirmed that the DNA of the baby girl matched blood samples gathered from the hotel room in Taipei that a Singaporean couple had stayed in.
Central News Agency reported that the blood samples collected by the police in the couple’s hotel bathroom matched the DNA of the discarded body, while Shin Min Daily News also reported on the evening of March 3 that DNA from an adult woman was discovered in the bag that was used for wrapping the baby’s body before it was thrown away.
The couple, now a 24-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman, reportedly arrived in Taiwan on Feb 19, 2019, and flew out on the afternoon of the 26th, the same day the baby’s body was found.
The man and woman denied involvement in the case, with the woman saying that if she had been pregnant when she flew out of Singapore, she would not have been allowed to board the plane to Taiwan. The man also denied that the woman had been pregnant and had given birth in Taiwan.
The baby was alive at the time she was dumped, according to forensic tests performed by Taiwanese authorities. But news reports at that time said that the cause of death of the infant was still under investigation.
And while the man and woman have kept a low profile for more than a year, Shin Min Daily News reported on Sunday (Oct 25) that the man announced on Instagram that the pair has gotten engaged.
The Chinese daily showed a photo from the man’s social media account of the two standing by a bed strewn with rose petals and balloons that had “Will you marry me?” written on them. The woman in the photo is seen carrying a bouquet of flowers.
Shin Min Daily News also reported that according to the woman’s father, the two have been living together.
The present status of the case in Taiwan is not known. However, on March 3, 2019, authorities in Taiwan told The New Paper, “We have not made a request to the Singapore police for assistance because the baby’s cause of death is still not known. We need to wait until it is confirmed before taking any follow-up action.”
While Singapore has no extradition treaty with Taiwan, the couple could still be charged and sentenced in Singapore. —/TISG