Parents in court for leaving newborn baby to die in Amsterdam trash container

The trial against two teenagers accused of leaving their newborn daughter in a garbage container on Meernhof in Amsterdam in 2021 starts on Monday. In addition to attempted manslaughter, the two are also suspected in the death of another baby in 2019.

Emergency services rescued the newborn girl on 21 February 2021 after a local heard crying coming from the container. First responders found the hypothermic child in a closed Jumbo bag, Parool reports. The two then-17-year-old parents turned themselves in at a police station a few days later. At the time, the lawyer representing the male suspect, Gerald Roethof, told the television program Op1 that the parents thought that the baby had died at birth and panicked.

After investigating the teenagers’ phones, the police found messages that pointed to a previous baby. The child, also a girl, was born in December 2019 and lived only a day. The police found the remains of a full-term baby in the garden of the home where the female suspect lived.

The two teenagers are facing charges of attempted manslaughter and murder, according to Parool. The Amsterdam court set aside two days for the trial. The case will be handled behind closed doors because the suspects were minors at the time of the crimes.