A girl of about three years old was abandoned early Thursday morning in a baby stroller near the Entrecampos train station in Lisbon. The mother was found “visibly intoxicated” in public by the Public Security Police (PSP).
From the alert to the location, here’s what is known about the case:
The girl was found by a passerby, who decided to alert authorities at 6:10 AM after witnessing someone leaving a baby stroller on Avenida 5 de Outubro, near Entrecampos station, and abandoning the site.
After the alert, the police went to the location and the child was transported to Hospital Dona Estefânia in Lisbon to be examined by health professionals. However, according to a PSP source, the girl was in a “normal” state of health.
The police then began investigations to identify who abandoned the girl, collecting video surveillance footage from various establishments near the site.
About three hours later, at 9:30 AM, it was determined that the child had been left by her mother, and the woman was found “visibly intoxicated in public.” She was subsequently taken to a PSP police station in Penha de França.
So far, authorities have determined that the woman “was in a bar during the early hours and, after leaving the bar, left the child in public.”
During questioning at the PSP, the mother presented a discourse that “is not incoherent” but presented “disparate ideas each time she spoke,” even initially claiming that the child had been kidnapped.
After being heard by authorities, the woman, originally from São Tomé and Príncipe and “around 25 years old,” was named as a suspect, and the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) was informed of the case.
The girl will now “be removed from the mother,” under Article 91 of the law for the protection of children and young people in danger, “since the mother is not suitable to keep the child and there are no known relatives.”
The child, who has a “congenital defect, a malformation,” remains in the hospital until discharged by a doctor, although the assessment indicates that she does not need “any specific care.”
