Baby's body came from home toilet

Doug Laing and Staff reporters
Hastings' new baby body mystery could be solved in one of fewer than a dozen homes in the area where a grisly find was made by a plumber yesterday.
Hastings CIB head Detective Senior Sergeant Sam Aberahama said only a small number of homes were serviced by the sewer line where the baby boy was found by plumber Ashley Wood beneath a manhole cover.
The find was made about 1.30pm in Cobham Place, which dissects Cobham Street between Oliphant Road and Bledisloe Street, Raureka.
Police believed the baby, estimated by a paediatrician to have been born about 10 weeks premature, could only have got into the drain via a toilet in one of the homes.
About 15 detectives and uniformed police, many of whom had been in the Baby Moses inquiry earlier in the month, went into action today, interviewing residents and trying to identify any visitors in recent days.
The new inquiry has been named Operation Aaron, after the biblical Moses' elder brother.
It was also hoped a mid-morning post mortem on the body in Wellington would establish when the child was likely to have been born, its cause of death, and how long it had been in the drain.
Mr Aberahama said he hoped he would know the details by midday, but appealed for the mother to make urgent contact with a doctor, other medical or welfare service, or the police.
"Confidentially if necessary," he said, and highlighted the specialist Crimeline number - 0800-567789.
The mother was advised not to fear any possible consequences. Mr Aberahama said her welfare, and the inquiry's need to establish the circumstances of the child's disposal, were the priorities.
Mr Wood, a plumber with Prestige Ltd, which is contracted for plumbing and other maintenance of Housing New Zealand units in Napier and Hastings, said he was called on a routine job to unblock a drain in the area.
When his first attempts were unsuccessful early yesterday afternoon, he lifted the manhole cover in the middle of the road, noticed an obstruction and started to fear the worst.
"I thought, 'it can't be a baby'," he told Hawke's Bay Today. "It had to be a doll, or a stuffed toy."
He used drain rods in an attempt to remove the blockage, realised it was a baby, and called the police.
Another contractor, Draincare, was called and used a closed-circuit TV drain-inspection camera to help police search for other evidence, but Mr Aberahama said nothing else of significance was found.
Mr Wood was back at work today.
"I suppose I am a bit numbed by it, but none of the emotional stuff has really kicked in - yet," he said.
Mr Aberahama confirmed police were still trying to find the mother of Baby Moses, the newborn child found dead in the garden of a Christian movement centre in Heretaunga Street East, Hastings, on January 4. It was believed the baby had been left in the garden early in the New Year weekend.
Police were still seeking women in relation to that inquiry, with some "hope" of resolving the mystery, he said.
The Rt Rev John Bluck, Bishop of Waiapu, said it was important people gave thought to the baby's mother.
"The temptation to be morally indignant about this is not going to help this woman get the sort of help she needs," he said.
"Somebody out there is pretty desperately in need of help. I hope somehow someone can get alongside her.
"That's the only thing that makes any sense at this stage."