Man who retrieved dead newborn says he’ll never get over incident
Published:Friday | September 16, 2022 | 12:13 AMRuddy Mathison/Gleaner Writer
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The police have launched an investigation into the discovery of a newborn’s corpse in the Rio Cobre and are also trying to locate the mother. The discovery of the baby girl in the vicinity of Nugent Street, popularly known as Buck Town in Spanish...
The police have launched an investigation into the discovery of a newborn’s corpse in the Rio Cobre and are also trying to locate the mother.
The discovery of the baby girl in the vicinity of Nugent Street, popularly known as Buck Town in Spanish Town, about 7 a.m. Thursday, has drawn mixed reactions from residents of the St Catherine community.
Householders woke up Thursday morning to news of what appeared to be a baby floating near the embankment of the river.
But while there was widespread condemnation of the mother, some residents expressed sympathy and cautioned onlookers against jumping to conclusions before all the facts were uncovered.
“A wicked woman that fi true, boy,” said one resident who asked not to be named.
“A nice pretty baby. It better she give it away than throw the pickney in the river. God will not spare her,” she continued.
Noel Titus, who retrieved the body after Spanish Town firefighters were unable to do so, related how he navigated the river.
“This morning I went to work, and when I got back home, a friend told me that she saw something like a dog down the riverbank and asked me to look because it has human hair on its head,” said Titus.
He told The Gleaner that he noticed that it was a newborn, with the umbilical cord still attached, so he immediately called the police.
“I left and went back to work, and about 12:30 p.m., I came home and saw the fire truck leaving. The police then told me that they were unable to retrieve the body,” he said.
Titus said he volunteered to dive in the river, retrieved the body, and handed it to members of Archer’s Funeral Home.
“I am upset that a woman would do this. She could have given the baby away. I will never get over this, especially when I looked at the baby and see the navel string still attached,” Titus told The Gleaner.
Meanwhile, the resident who alerted Titus cautioned him and others to reserve judgement until they knew more about the incident.
“Right now, we don’t know what that woman was going through. We don’t know if she has a mental illness, we don’t know even if she is alive, so we can’t jump to conclusions,” the woman, who requested anonymity, said.
Senior Superintendent Dennis Lyons, who is in charge of the St Catherine Fire Department, said his men, who were first responders, could not retrieve the body because of its location in the river.