Mother Claims She 'Accidentally' Flushed Newborn Down The ToiletTuesday November 25, 2008
CityNews.ca Staff
Note: this story contains disturbing details that may offend sensitive viewers. Discretion is advised. A bizarre inquest in Cardiff, Wales has heard an equally bizarre claim from a woman in the centre of a storm. Her name is Claire Jones and she told a panel looking into the death of her newborn baby that she accidentally flushed the child down the toilet because she didn't know she was giving birth.
The 32-years-old's incredible story started when she began an affair with a colleague at work. Before she knew it, she was pregnant, a fact she kept from her partner of 11 years, fearing his reaction if he discovered she was carrying another man's child.
She never told him or her family about the baby, insisting her swelling belly was due to the effects of a wheat allergy. Only the father-to-be was aware of her condition and was making plans to have a son.
All that changed on December 28th of last year, when Jones felt a terrible pain in her stomach. She thought it was a bout of diarrhea and went into the bathroom at her parent's home.
In a startling statement to the coroner's jury, she revealed that she flushed the commode while still sitting on it and felt a strange 'pulling' sensation. When she stood up, she saw something she insists stunned her. "I could see a foot in the bowl of the toilet," she told the panel.
She claims she had no idea that she'd given birth and that when she pulled the infant out, it wasn't breathing. Doctors believe it might have been stillborn but would have drowned in the bowl had it been alive when the mother delivered.
With so many secrets to hide, Jones kept one more, managing to smuggle the body out of the home, get it to her car, and put the lifeless baby in the trunk. Ten days later, she was arrested at her home in Wales and the evidence was discovered in her vehicle.
She was ultimately given a suspended sentence for concealing the birth and an inquest was called into the infant's death.
Asked why she didn't yell for help in a house filled with people, Jones responded that her web of lies made it impossible. "No one knew I was pregnant," she defended.
A post mortem failed to show if the seven and half pound boy named Daniel died before birth or after he came into the world.
But a doctor who testified at the hearing believes if the baby was alive, he could have been saved if his mother had simply alerted anyone about his existence.
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If only labour was so easy for the majority of women. I've heard horror stories of screaming for drugs for hours.
