A small fire inside a home on Baghdad Street in Belize City last night uncovered a troubling discovery.
A birth certificate near the flames led investigators to a young child left behind by his mother. Police say the woman had asked a neighbor to call her a taxi, and after the child fell asleep, she left the residence and never returned. Police say the mother has since been located, and the child is now in the care of Human Services:
ASP Stacy Smith, Staff Officer
"As it relates to the incident with the child on Baghdad Street in Belize City, what I've been able to ascertain so far is that sometime last night, police were called to a residence on Baghdad Street because there was a fire on a stairs. And the lady stated that when she extinguished the fire, she noticed a birth paper was near where the fire occurred. It was only because of this, another female who lived not too far away realized that the name on the birth paper is that of a female who had visited her earlier and left her child there with her. That particular woman reported that a female known to her solely by first name, and it's not someone that she was intimately acquainted with, visited her and began a conversation and asked her to call a taxi for her. And during that time that they were waiting for the taxi, the child fell asleep. So the child was placed to sleep within the residence. The female, which is the mother of the child, left, and she did not return any at all. It was only when that incident happened that she realized that something may have gone awry. Investigators have since been able to locate the mother. The child was placed with Human Services, and I've been advised that a consultation and welfare check should happen sometime during the course of the day to see what exactly went wrong that caused the mother to take that course of action that she took."
