Police Locate Mother After Child Left With Neighbor

Police have located the mother of a one-year-old child who was reportedly left with a neighbour on Baghdad Street in Belize City. The child, however, remains in the care of social services as authorities investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Police were called to the residence at around 1:25 on Sunday morning after occupant Shanna Saunders reportedly found a fire burning on the steps and managed to put it out.  During the investigation, a neighbour told police that a woman known to her as “Shanie” had left the child in her care at around nine o’clock on Saturday night. The woman reportedly said she was going to get a taxi but did not return.  Assistant Commissioner of Police Stacy Smith provided details on the attempted arson, the child being left at the residence and the subsequent location of the mother.

Stacy Smith, Assistant Superintendent of Police: “As it relates to the incident with the child on Baghdad Street in Belize City. What I’ve been able to ascertain so far is that sometime last night police were called to a residence on Baghdad Street because there was a fire on a stair and the lady stated that when she extinguished the fire she noticed a birth paper was near where the fire occurred. It was only because of this other female who lived not too far away realized that the name on the birth paper is that of a female who had visited her earlier and left her child there with her. That particular woman reported that a female known to her solely by first name and it’s not someone she was intimately acquainted with visited her and began a conversation and asked her to call a taxi for her and during that time that they were waiting for the taxi the child fell asleep so the child was placed to sleep within the residence. The female, which is the mother of the child, left and she did not return any at all and it was only when that incident happened that she realized that something may have gone awry. Investigators have since been able to locate the mother. The child was placed with the Human Services and I’ve been advised that a consultation and welfare check should happen sometime during the course of today to see what exactly went wrong that caused that mother to take that course of action she took.”

While the mother has now been found, investigators are still trying to determine whether the child was deliberately abandoned. Police are also working to establish who started the fire and whether the attempted arson is connected to the child being left at the property.