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No charges over Samoan baby dumped in Malaysia

Police Commissioner Fuiavailiili Egon Keil

Apia, SAMOA — No charges will be filed against a Samoan woman who allegedly dumped her baby in a trash bin in Malaysia.

Samoa police say the matter is beyond their jurisdiction.

According to the Samoa Observer the 33 year old woman, was on a study tour in Malaysia.

She was escorted back to Samoa earlier this month after being detained by police in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur for four days.

Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, had said earlier this month that the woman was expected to face charges in Samoa following negotiations with the Malaysian Government.

But according to Police Commissioner Fuiavailiili Egon Keil because the alleged crime occurred outside of Samoa it is beyond the jurisdiction of Samoa police.

The commissioner said he was not aware of any agreement between the Governments of Samoa and Malaysia that would have facilitated the woman's return to Samoa to face charges there.

When the body of the abandoned baby was found in a trash bin in a toilet, a senior officer with the Dang Wangi District Police, Chief Mohd Fahmi Visunathan Abdullah, said the woman was treated at Kuala Lumpur hospital while the newborn baby was sent for post-mortem.

The woman had joined a group to the National Monument and stayed inside the toilet for more than an hour.

Police Chief Abdullah said the case was being investigated under a section of the Malaysian penal code that deals with the concealment of birth by secret disposal.

This states that whoever secretly buries or otherwise disposes of the dead body of a child can face a punishment of up to two years, a fine or both.