A specialized inter-district criminal court in the Abai Region has sentenced a man to life in prison for the death of a newborn left in a garbage container in Semey. The man, who abandoned the baby in the cold, received a life sentence, while the infant's mother was released from punishment under an amnesty, infohub.kz reports.
The man, born in 2000, was found guilty of murdering a minor under Part 3 of Article 99 of Kazakhstan's Criminal Code. He will serve his life sentence in a maximum-security facility. He was also stripped of the rank of senior police lieutenant.
The child's mother, born in 2005, was convicted under Article 100 of the Criminal Code — "Murder of a Newborn by the Mother." She was sentenced to two years in prison but was released from punishment under an amnesty law tied to the adoption of a new Constitution. The woman was also stripped of the rank of junior police sergeant.
According to case materials, the girl secretly gave birth at home, after which her boyfriend drove the newborn away and left the baby in a garbage container. Both defendants pleaded not guilty. The court examined text messages, WhatsApp chats, testimony and expert findings.
"According to expert data reviewed in court, the child was alive at birth. Later, after a certain time, the baby died from exposure to cold," the judge said while delivering the verdict.
It was previously reported that the infant's body was found in Semey on February 3. The baby was wrapped in a towel. At the time, the 20-year-old mother claimed she gave birth at home and the child was born without signs of life, but an examination determined the baby died from cold.
Similar cases occurred this year in the Zhambyl Region and Aktobe. In September, a newborn girl was found in a garbage container on the territory of the Guards Garrison, and in May a baby was found in a bag under a tree in Aktobe. Both children survived.