Parents in attempted infanticide case were 'convinced that the child was dead'

The teenage parents of a baby that was found alive in a waste container in Amsterdam last Sunday, reported themselves to the police on Wednesday. They thought the girl had died, said their lawyer Gerald Roethof.

According to Roethof, only the father was present at the child's birth, and both he and the mother said they were convinced that the girl had died shortly afterward. The lawyer says the two youngsters panicked and did not know what to do.

"They walked with the child on the street, at one point passed that waste container and then the child was placed there, let's use that word," said Roethof. According to him, the child is doing well. "It is in foster care, I understand, but that is information that I received indirectly."

The suspects are two Amsterdam residents, both 17 years old, who have stated that they are the parents of the baby. They are suspected of attempted infanticide and were brought before the juvenile judge commissioner on Friday. Their pre-trial detention was suspended, meaning that they were released from custody. The underage girl's mother, the baby's grandmother, was also arrested.

The newborn baby was found at the Meernhof in Amsterdam-Zuidoost. She has since been released from the hospital and placed elsewhere.