/ 30 August 2007

Stillborn baby found in washing machine

A 16-year-old girl is being questioned by German police after the corpse of her newborn baby was found in a washing machine.

The girl’s father made the gruesome discovery, Ulrich Schering, police spokesperson in Frankfurt an der Oder, said on Thursday. She is under investigation for suspected manslaughter.

The girl had managed to keep her pregnancy a secret, he said. She gave birth to the baby on Wednesday.

She told police in eastern Germany the baby was still-born and she hid the body in a laundry basket, Schering said. According to German media reports, the body had been put through the laundry cycle along with bed sheets.

Last year, a German woman from the same city was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the manslaughter of her eight newborn babies, some of whom were buried in flowerpots. — Reuters