The investigation by the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) of Grand Bay into the circumstances under which a three-month-old infant ended up in the Intensive Care Unit of the North Hospital on Saturday, October 22, resulted in four arrests this Monday morning, November 14. They are four caregivers from the Shelter L’Oiseau du Paradis in Cap Malheureux where the child had been placed. These four caregivers were brought before the District Court of Rivière du Rempart in Pamplemousses on a provisional charge of child abuse under the Children’s Act of 2020. The four suspects were kept in police cells.
Of these four caregivers, two live in the village of Rivière du Rempart and the other two are residents of Plaine des Roches. They are between 34 and 46 years old. They have not given statements yet.
The men of Inspector Dooshan Thakoor of the Grand Bay CID, under the supervision of Superintendent of Police Abdool Raman Hosenbocus and Assistant Superintendent of Police Jankeepardad Buchoo, arrested the four caregivers of the Bird of Paradise.
This child was placed at this shelter on Friday, September 9 by one of the Child Development Unit staff members. The child, a little girl, was brought back from the Northern Hospital where she was born to an alcoholic mother on July 27, 2022. On the afternoon of October 19, she developed diarrhea and this condition persisted overnight. On the evening of Friday, October 21, around 8:00 p.m., she drank her milk and fell asleep. However, in the evening, it was noticed that the little girl became weak and had difficulty breathing. But it was not until the next morning that she was taken to the hospital. In a statement made to the police on Monday 24 October, the manager of the shelter gave a chronology of the events.
The treatment of this child at the shelter of L’Oiseau du Paradis was even the subject of a Private Notice Question at the National Assembly on Thursday 27 October. The Minister of Gender Equality and Family Welfare, Kalpana Koonjoo-Shah, announced that a Fact Finding Committee would be set up to investigate the matter.
As for the baby’s mother, she was arrested on Monday, November 7 by elements of the Family Protection Brigade on a provisional charge of child abandonment. This 27-year-old woman, whose partner is in prison, lives in a suburb of the capital.
