An Irish backpacker in Australia who was charged in August with unlawfully concealing a birth of a baby who died has had all charged dropped.
The 25-year-old has been travelling when she gave birth alone in a hotel room. The baby died, and the woman hid the body and didn’t tell anyone.
After a few days she confessed to friends what had happened, and they brought the traumatised woman to hospital, where staff informed the police. Police said at the time that she hadn’t known she was pregnant.
The woman was charged under an Australian law which requires all births to be reported, even if the baby is stillborn. It can carry a jail sentence of up to two years.
The woman had been allowed home to her family in Ireland in August after the court heard there were “serious concerns” for her welfare “without continued support from family”.
Thankfully for the woman and her family, all charges were dropped today after public prosecutors told Perth Magistrates Court that it was not in the public interest to pursue the case.
