Couple arrested in Singapore over death of newborn baby in Taiwan 2 years ago

SINGAPORE - Police have arrested a man and a woman, both aged 25, for their suspected involvement in the death of a newborn baby in Taiwan two years ago.

In response to queries from The Straits Times, the police said on Tuesday evening (May 11) that the pair were taken into custody on April 28 following a request for assistance from the Taiwanese authorities.

Investigations are ongoing.

In February this year, the Taiwanese authorities issued an arrest warrant for a couple in Singapore for allegedly dumping the body of a newborn baby girl. The body was found in a food recycling bin at a waste management facility in Taipei on Feb 26, 2019.

Ms Chen Ju-ping, a spokesman for the Taipei district prosecutor's office, told The Straits Times then that the authorities had "enough objective evidence" to arrest the couple.

The woman allegedly delivered a baby girl on Feb 26, 2019, while holidaying with her boyfriend in Taipei.

The body is said to have been dumped in a food waste bin of a restaurant in Ximending, in Taipei. The bin was inadvertently transported by a rubbish truck to a recycling plant in Xindian, some 10km away.

An employee at the recycling company discovered the body in a garbage bag hours later. The placenta and umbilical cord were still intact.

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The Taiwanese authorities reviewed footage from more than 100 closed-circuit television cameras and checked immigration records, which led them to the couple, who had checked out of the hotel the same afternoon and flown back to Singapore.

Pieces of placenta were found in the bathroom pipe of the hotel room where the couple stayed.

A forensic test conducted in Taiwan in 2019 concluded that the baby was alive at birth.

Ms Chen noted that the Taiwanese authorities could only arrest the couple if they entered Taiwan.

When contacted two years ago, the couple denied their involvement in the case.

The woman insisted that she was not pregnant, saying that she would not have been able to board the flight to Taiwan if she had been. The man denied leaving the hotel to discard a plastic bag.

The man announced on social media on Oct 24 last year that he was engaged to the woman.

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.