Taipei—On Monday, March 3, Taiwanese police confirmed that the DNA of the baby girl whose body had been found in a recycling company in Xindian matched blood samples gathered from the hotel room in Taipei that a Singaporean couple had stayed in.
However, the couple denied involvement in the case.
Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA) reported that the blood samples collected by the police in the couple’s hotel bathroom matched the DNA of the discarded body.
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, a 23-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman, reportedly arrived in Taiwan on February 19 and flew out on the afternoon of the 26th, the same day the baby’s body was found by an employee of a recycling company in Xindian.
However, the New Paper reports that the couple, when questioned by authorities, have denied their involvement in the baby’s death and the dumping of her body.
According to the man, he did not leave the hotel room early in the morning where the couple was checked in to throw the body away. Surveillance camera footage has shown a similar looking man leaving the hotel before 4:00 am, carrying a bundle that he threw in the trash.
Meanwhile, the woman said she was not pregnant when she boarded her flight to Taiwan, claiming she would not have been allowed to enter the plane if she had been pregnant.
According to the parents of the man, they were aware that he and his girlfriend were vacationing in Taiwan during the said dates, but they told Shin Min that they were unaware of the pregnancy.
Zeng Bozhong, the head of the Taiwanese police team investigating the case, told news outfit Lianhe Zaobao that they have positively identified the couple in the case, despite their denials of involvement. The police looked into hotel records, footage from surveillance cameras, as well as exit and entry records.
The man’s father expressed worry that his son had not come home, while the woman’s father said he had seen his daughter, who seemed to be in high spirits, after they had returned from Taiwan. She did not seem as though she had recently delivered a baby, according to her father.
The infant’s body is scheduled for an autopsy on the morning of March 5, to determine the cause of death and the time of death.
This will determine the gravity of the parents’ crime. If the baby was stillborn, the parents could face the charge of abandoning a corpse. If the baby was still alive and died after she was born, they could face graver charges—homicide as well as death by negligence.
The parents of the couple involved have told the press in Taiwan that they have not been able to contact the man and woman, and are worried about their welfare, with the father of the man saying he may file a police report.
Authorities in Taiwan told The New Paper on March 3, “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.
Read related: Singaporean couple wanted in Taiwan in connection with baby girl found in rubbish bin
https://theindependent.sg.sg/singaporean-couple-wanted-in-taiwan-in-connection-with-baby-girl-found-in-rubbish-bin/