Post date: Feb 21, 2011 7:51:38 PM
A 17-year-old pupil from the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls could face a charge of concealment of birth after a nurse found the body of a newborn baby in her school bag.
HENLEY-ON-KLIP, SOUTH AFRICA - A 17-year old from the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls could face a charge of concealment of birth after a nurse recovered the body of her new born from her school bag, a police spokesperson said on Monday (February 21).
He said the pupil gave birth on Wednesday (February 16) and hid the body in her school bag. The girl was hospitalised at the Meyerton hospital for excessive bleeding and was discharged on Friday (February 18), he added."We are investigating a case of concealment of birth after a 17-year-old girl gave birth to a baby boy and she was taken to the hospital for excessive bleeding from the Oprah Winfrey Academy for Girls. When she was at the hospital, they (authorities) interviewed her and discovered that the baby was inside her bag, when they looked at the bag, the baby was already dead," said police spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Lungelo Dlamini.
Legal investigations are currently underway as the girl initially denied that she had given birth but tests conducted at the Meyerton hospital confirmed that she had in fact, given birth.
Dlamini said the director of public prosecutions in Gauteng would decide whether to prosecute the girl once all the relevant information has been collected from witnesses including the post-mortem results.
"We believe she went back to the Eastern Cape while we are busy with investigation. We are busy taking statements from the relevant people, we are waiting for post-mortem report, once all that information is available we will be discussing the case with the director of public prosecution," said Dlamini.
"We've got a charge against her but she hasn't been arrested, we are waiting for this report including the post-mortem report, once we get those reports, we are going to take the case to the director of public prosecution who must file the charges against her," he added.
The school, which opened in Henley-on-Klip, south of Johannesburg, in 2007, made international headlines after the matron, Virginia Makopo, was charged for sexually molesting several girls.
She was since acquitted at the Sebokeng court and later sued Winfrey for defamation.
The magistrate said the girls could not provide accurate information on their evidence against Makopo who reached an out of court settlement with the school.