The horrific discovery of the body of a newborn boy in a Lisbon rubbish bin has led to a police investigation focusing on the likelihood of infanticide.
The scenario of ‘miscarriage’ remains open, writes Correio da Manhã, but feelings are that this was something much more sinister.
The child’s body showed two blows had been dealt to his right side: one on the torso, the other on the right leg.
As the paper explains, these are believed to have been “inflicted to cause death”.
The child’s body was fully formed, and appears to have been at the final stages of gestation.
The umbilical cord was still attached, as well as part of the placenta, says CM.
The body was inside a bag which appears to have been placed in a rubbish bin “just 40 metres from the local PSP station” in the neighbourhood of Boavista, some time after 7am on Monday morning.
The reason for the timing is that refuse collectors say they emptied the bin at 7am, and the bag was not there.
Householders are apparently repulsed by the find, suggesting it could not have been anyone from the immediate area.
According to Liliana Martins – one of the first people to have seen the body – it was discovered by a neighbour who went to drop his rubbish and decided to remove some metal from the bin, with the idea of selling it – though there is no explanation of what led the householder to open the bag.
The body has been sent for an autopsy which CM claims “should explain everything”.
