Pair found not guilty of murder after doubts over aborted baby's heartbeat

The Criminal Court of the Maldives has ruled that the parents accused of murder and burial of an aborted baby is not guilty. 

The incident happened on December 14, 2012, in Maradhoo-Feydhoo, Addu City. The parents were accused of murdering the baby and burying the body on the beach of the island after the baby was aborted. 

The charges against Aminath Shaahee Aalam from Shamrock, S. Maradhoo, and Ibrahim Wisaam from Finifenmaage, S. Maradhoo-Feydhoo, who are married, revolve around allegations that they willingly aborted a 20-week old baby with medications, and buried the baby after murdering it. 

State prosecutors in court said that Shaahee had not consulted with the medical practitioners and doctors even after becoming pregnant. Prosecutors alleged that Shaahee consumed medications for the purpose of abortion and aborted the baby. 

Prosecutors also alleged that Wisaam was the one who buried the body based on the confidential witness statement of a companion of Wisaam when he buried the body. The statement had read that Wisaam buried the baby after packing the body in a black plastic bag and transported it to the site where it was buried by storing it underneath the seat (dickey) of his motorcycle. The baby was buried by Wisaam after digging a hole on the beach of the island, according to the statement by the witness. 

Police, upon investigating the case, discovered bloody bedsheets, bloody pillowcases, and even sanitary pads after a search of the residence of Shaahee and Wisaam. DNA tests conducted on the body of the baby also matched with Wisaam and Shaahee. 

Police has previously stated that reports of the incident received on the night saw officers attend the site, dig up the baby, only to find out that the baby’s heart was still beating. The baby had weighed just 22 grams and had a height of seven inches. The baby died after it was taken to the hospital. 

The case which has been underway for eight years had seen Shaahee name a foreign doctor as a defense witness. Shaahee had argued that she had used a medicine prescribed for pains by the doctor. She said that she had not seen the aborted baby, had not murdered the baby before stating that Wisaam took the baby away in a bag. The doctor named by Shaahee was not called in because the whereabouts of the doctor were unknown. Shaahee had denied the charges against her. 

Wisaam on the other hand had requested to present four witnesses for his defense that he was not present at the time or location when the incident happened. However, after Wisaam later refused to present the witnesses, they were not called in. 

Regarding the case, Judge Hussain Faiz Rasheed said that in Shariah, three points were required to be fulfilled in order to constitute murder. This includes seeing whether the victim is alive or prohibited from being killed. This was the point most contested by the defense which questioned the prosecution whether the baby’s heart was beating when it was born. This is to see whether the case could actually meet the necessary requirements for murder. 

Two police officers who are witnesses in the case testified that the baby’s heart was beating when it was dug up. One of the officers said that the baby died only after being taken to the hospital. Even after being taken to the hospital, the ECG had shown a heartbeat and a doctor had also stated so. 

However, in contrast to this, three officers testified that were not sure whether the baby had a heartbeat when dug up and even the companion of Wisaam had testified that it was not certain whether the baby had life when it was buried. The nurse who had attended the baby could also not recollect whether the baby had a heartbeat when brought into the hospital. 

A report by a gynecologist of the Hithadhoo Hospital in relation to the case was also presented as evidence to the case. The translation of the report had read that the baby was brought in dead. This was taken into account when the court issued the verdict in the case. In the death confirmation report of the Health Ministry, it was stated that the location of the death was Hithadhoo Hospital, but only because the doctors of the hospital who attended the case after the baby was brought in had determined that the baby had passed away.

The verdict read that this was contradictory to the statements provided by the police officer who had testified that the doctor had stated that the baby had a heartbeat, and that the ECG machine had also shown the child to have had a heartbeat. 

All of the circumstances surrounding the case gave doubt whether the baby had life and that the prosecution had not been able to present evidence beyond reasonable doubt that the baby had life. The verdict had also read that the prosecution was unable to prove that the death of the baby was connected with the actions of Wisaam or Shaahee beyond reasonable doubt. 

This was the reason why the court moved to find the pair not guilty of murder.