Baby found with life-threatening injuries outside home on Gladstone Rd in Dandenong North
The housemates of a woman who is believed to have just given birth to a baby boy found outside a Dandenong North house with serious injuries say they didn’t know she was pregnant.
Victoria
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A baby boy with life-threatening injuries has been dumped outside a Dandenong North home, just hours after he was born.
The housemates of the 25-year-old mother, believed to be named Irene, said they did not know she had given birth until the father of the baby began banging on their front door in the early hours of Friday.
The women, who did not know their housemate was pregnant, moved into the home with the woman three weeks ago.
“We met through a Kenyan community group and moved in three weeks ago,” the housemate said.
“We didn’t see each other often but she was a nice girl.”
The girls slept at the police station overnight after giving their statements and not being able to go back inside the property.
“We are going to see her now,” one housemate said.
“We want her to know we are praying for her and the baby boy.”
The infant was found with life-threatening injuries outside their home on Gladstone Rd about 2.40am.
The infant was rushed to hospital in a critical condition.
A 25-year-old woman from the home, believed to be the mother, is in hospital under police guard.
“The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation,” police said in a statement.
A Dandenong North home has been cordoned off as police and forensic teams investigate the incident.
The Gladstone Rd property, which sits on a busy main road, has been surrounded by police tape and witches hats as investigators remained tight lipped.
A red Toyota Corolla remains parked in the wide concrete driveway as police collect evidence from the front porch of the house.
An elderly neighbour of the 25-year-old woman in custody said they had not met before.
“They were very new, they’d just moved in,” he said.
“We don’t really have any connection with our neighbours here at all, it’s a very quiet area.”
The man, who has lived at his Dandenong North home for 30 years said “nothing like this had ever happened before”.
“It’s a good street, quiet,” he said
“The most noise we have is from the traffic.”
He said he was “fast asleep” at the time of the incident.
“We didn’t hear anything or see the police lights until this morning,” he said.
“All we know is a baby was found hurt. I hope it’s OK.”
Another neighbour Jiliani said the incident had “really scared her”.
“We saw the lights early this morning and honestly it really scared me,” she said.
“If we knew the baby was in trouble we could have just taken it in here.”
The investigation remains ongoing.
More to come …
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