Woman who kept her child in drawer for three years is jailed
The Guardian|November 27, 2024
The mother of a three-year-old girl who was kept in a drawer and had never seen daylight or another human face has been jailed for more than seven years.
Robyn Vinter
Woman who kept her child in drawer for three years is jailed

The girl was found severely malnourished and unable to walk or speak in February 2023 by a partner of her mother's who had gone upstairs to use the toilet and heard a noise that sounded like a baby.

He discovered the little girl, who had a cleft palate and matted hair and was suffering from dehydration, and called the police.

A statement read to the court by the social worker who was first on the scene said: "I was taken aback by what I saw and was extremely shocked to see a baby looking up at me sat in a divan drawer.

"[The baby] stared at me and was rocking back and forth.

"I looked at her mum and asked: 'Is this where you keep her?' The mother replied matter-of-factly: 'Yes, in the drawer. I was shocked the mother did not show any emotion and appeared blase about the situation.

"I asked had anyone else ever seen [the child]? Mum stated: 'No'. It became an overwhelming horror that I was probably the only other face [the girl] had seen apart from her mother's."

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