Rome - A 15-day-old infant has been found by local police in an apartment in extremely precarious conditions. The child was sleeping completely naked on a mattress lying on a dirty floor surrounded by garbage and mold. The officers also found around five kilograms of marijuana and hashish in the premises.
The mother's 49-year-old Romanian partner was arrested for illegal drug possession with intent to traffick and placed under house arrest. Charges were filed against the 31-year-old Italian mother. The child was immediately handed over to the care of medical staff at a neonatal clinic.
Baby taken away from the hospital after birth
The investigation by the Support Unit for Excluded Persons (N.A.E.) got underway after the youth prosecutor's office ordered a review of the living conditions. There was a suspicion of acute danger, as the mother had taken the baby away from the medical staff immediately after giving birth, thus preventing urgently needed treatment. As the officers did not find anyone at the registered address, they traced the family through surveillance in the IV district.
Major drug find and tragic backstory
The investigators seized narcotics worth 60,000 to 70,000 euros in the apartment. This amount would have been enough to produce 7,914 doses.
The family history is particularly tragic: the couple had already been involved in criminal proceedings for involuntary manslaughter in the past. This involved the death of another child who died last year just a few days after an unattended home birth. The cause at the time was fulminant meningitis and a lung infection caused by the ingestion of amniotic fluid.
