Woman chokes own newborn

MANILA, Philippines - A former mental patient reportedly strangled her baby before slashing her wrist inside their house in Sta.Mesa, Manila Thursday night.

Inspector Armando Macaraeg, chief of the homicide section of the Manila Police District, said the 26-year-old woman is currently confined at the De Ocampo Memorial Hospital.

Her 13-day-old baby died of suffocation, Macaraeg added.

Police said it was the woman’s older brother who found the dead infant on the bed beside her mother, whose slashed left wrist was bleeding profusely. He had just come home from work at around 8 p.m. A meter-long electric cord and a shaving blade were also found on the bed.

Scene of the Crime Operatives found wounds on the baby’s knees and ligature marks on her left temple.

The woman’s brother told police his sister had been confined at the Kadlan Mental Hospital in Naga City before she was brought to Manila to give birth.

Macaraeg said the woman admitted to police officers and neighbors that she strangled her baby. Parricide charges are being readied against her.