Singapore couple suspected of dumping baby can come over to verify DNA, say Taiwan police

Kok Yufeng
The New Paper
Mar 4, 2019

The Singapore couple accused of dumping a newborn baby girl's body in Taiwan have denied they were involved.

When contacted by Chinese-language newspaper Shin Min Daily News last Friday, the man said he did not leave the hotel to throw the plastic bag away at the time.

The woman denied she was pregnant, saying she would not have been able to board the flight to Taiwan if she were so.

The pair, a 24-year-old woman and a 23-year-old man, are being investigated by Taiwanese police for allegedly dumping the body of a newborn in a food waste bin in Taipei's popular Ximending shopping district on Tuesday.

Taiwanese media reports said the couple had flown into Taipei on Feb 19 and left Taiwan on Feb 26 at about 4.30pm - the day the body was allegedly dumped and later discovered.

The man's parents confirmed with Shin Min that their son and his girlfriend were in Taiwan on holiday during the dates reported by the media but said they did not know if the woman was pregnant.

When asked about the couple's denials, the head of the Taiwan police team looking into the case, Mr Zeng Bozhong, told Chinese-language daily Lianhe Zaobao that Taiwan police are certain that the Singapore couple were involved in the case as they had verified their identities through detailed investigations.

This involved looking at records from the hotel and nearby shops, camera footage and entry and exit records, among others.

Mr Zeng revealed Taiwan police had more evidence pointing to the couple but said it was not appropriate to make them public at the moment.

A Taiwan police spokesman told Lianhe Zaobao: "The Taiwan police really hope that the pair can come over.

"We have a DNA sample from the baby girl and they can come over to do a verification."

When interviewed by Shin Min again yesterday, the man's father said the family was worried as his son had not come home. His mobile phone was also switched off.

Said the father: "I might have to make a police report. I want to find my son."

The mother of the woman also told Shin Min yesterday that she had not seen her daughter since the incident occurred.

The woman's father told the paper on Saturday that after his daughter returned to Singapore, she went back to work the next day in good spirits and did not seem like she had just given birth.