A criminal psychologist has raised serious concerns about a missing mother and her baby, whom she gave birth to on the bank of a filthy river last week.
A dog walker stumbled upon the mother’s placenta and umbilical cord near the Cooks River in Earlwood, south-west of Sydney, about 4.30pm last Monday.
Neither the mother nor the baby have been located despite desperate pleas from investigators for her to come forward to ensure their safety.
The chances of police finding out what happened to the couple continue to diminish with each passing day, said criminal psychologist Charlie Bezzina.
“The longer it takes for police to find the woman, the harder it will be to make sure they are both alive and well, or tragically dead,” he told Daily Mail Australia.
An ex. Victoria Police detective has raised concerns about a missing mother who gave birth to a baby boy on the bank of a dirty river last week (pictured, police at the scene)
The former Victoria Police homicide detective said similar scenarios have occurred due to social pressures, such as the baby being born out of wedlock.
However, he added that the circumstances that led to the birth could not be known without finding the mother.
“You never know the story or the background of why a woman had to give birth and she seems to have hidden it,” Mr. Bezzina said.
“By ruling out the placenta and evidence that a person has had a baby, it becomes clear that they are headed home or somewhere nearby. But we can only guess.
Police’s main concern would be that she could have “gone to a different location” outside the search area and died, according to Bezzina.
He said an even worse scenario would be that the mother “could have killed the baby and disposed of the body.”
“As time goes on, it becomes much more difficult and may never be resolved.”
Bezzina urged the police to continue insisting that the mother seek medical help with the promise that no criminal action would be taken against her.
“From a law enforcement perspective, the hand of assistance is being extended, rather than the hand of prosecution,” he said.
“Even if something has happened and the child may have died, that doesn’t mean you’re in trouble.”
Placenta and umbilical cord near Cooks River in Earlwood, south west of Sydney, around 4.30pm last Monday and the mother has not yet been found.
The former detective said the chances of finding out what happened to the mother and baby diminish every day they can’t locate her.
It has been 10 days since the mother is believed to have given birth to the child, the same time a mother would begin to show signs of postpartum infection.
Leading Sydney obstetrician Dr Stephen Morris told Daily Mail Australia the mother could be at higher risk of developing an infection given the birthplace.
Some sections of the Cooks River are heavily polluted as a result of traffic congestion, garbage, sewage, illegal dumping, and industrial and domestic activities.
“Water births are usually just tap water, and you can give birth in the ocean because of the salt water, but a river tends to be the worst place to give birth,” Dr. Morris said.
‘The uterus is a kind of open wound that comes out of the vagina, so if you immerse yourself in that water, it would be more dangerous.
“So if she went swimming or went into the river, it would increase the risk of getting sick with an infection in the uterus.”
Dr. Morris explained that if the mother becomes infected, she may begin to feel feverish and, without medical treatment, this could progress to sepsis.
He added that an extensive police search of the area found nothing to indicate the baby had been injured at the scene.
