Baby in Middlemore Hospital bin: Woman pleads guilty to leaving body

Middlemore Hospital. File photo / Mike Scott

Warning: This story may be upsetting.

A young woman has admitted she left the body of a baby at Middlemore Hospital last year.

The 28-year-old, whose identity is protected, was charged after a newborn was found dead at the South Auckland hospital on August 4, 2021.

A source had told the Herald the baby was found in a toilet rubbish bin, and the mother was taken to hospital by family members shortly before the baby was born.

It remains unclear whether they knew about her pregnancy.

The neatly-dressed young woman stood in the dock at the Manukau District Court this morning as she pleaded guilty, through her lawyer, to one charge of concealing the dead body of a child.

Judge David McNaughton did not enter a conviction today, granting her interim name suppression until her sentencing next year.

He said there were grounds for permanent name suppression in this case, but did not go into detail.

A post mortem was carried out to determine if the baby was stillborn or had died after birth, but Detective Senior Sergeant Mike Hayward said at the time that the death remained “unexplained” and more time was needed for conclusive answers to the case.