Student hid pregnancy for fear of losing scholarship, court told

A student accused of causing her baby's death after it was born in a university hostel toilet in May was scared her pregnancy would mean the end of her study scholarship, a court was told today.

The second-year Pacific Island student, who was 20 when her baby girl was born in May this year, is charged with causing the baby's death through her failure to provide the child with the necessaries of life.

Detective David Checketts said the woman told him two days after the baby's birth and death at Studholme Hall that she was scared about people knowing about her pregnancy in case they teased her and she lost her scholarship, Dunedin District Court heard.

She said her scholarship would have been cancelled as holders were not allowed to get pregnant.

The evidence was given on the second day of a manslaughter depositions hearing.

The defendant's boyfriend, a 21-year-old Massey University student, said he guessed the defendant was pregnant after she stayed with him in September last year. She confirmed it when they were both at home during the summer holidays but refused to discuss the matter again.

He had been in a relationship with her for two years and was hoping to marry her, he said.

After she returned to Dunedin, they would telephone each other several times a week, but she did not talk about when she was going to have the baby.

He tried to talk about the future, but she would always change the subject.

The woman told Mr Checketts she did not realise she was in labour when she awoke in pain early on May 20. It was only when her stomach really hurt that she "knew it was coming", the court heard.

The baby had already been born and was in the toilet when her sister called for help and Eirenei Vailaai, a resident assistant at the hall came into the bathroom. Neither of them knew the baby was in the toilet.

The court was told the woman said she did not tell her sister to help the baby out of the toilet and she herself did not rescue it just after it was born because her sister was there and she did not want her to know.

She did not know how long the baby was in the toilet but it made no noise.

When she came round from fainting, she told the court she asked her sister to get a plastic bag. She then locked her out while she got the baby and the placenta out of the toilet.

- OTAGO DAILY TIMES