Mum arrested nearly four years after abandoned baby found alive in plastic bag
A mum has been arrested in the US in connection with a baby who was found abandoned in a plastic bag four years ago.
It was 6 June, 2019 when two sisters heard a noise coming from a somewhat isolated area in Forsyth County, Georgia, with one of them initially thinking it was a cat.
They went to investigate and came across the baby in a plastic bag, with one of her arms poking free. She still had her umbilical cord attached, but was in good condition.
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The baby was temporarily named India, and was handed over to the Georgia Department of Family and Children Services.
In the weeks that followed her discovery, the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office released body camera footage of her recovery as they attempted to identify her.
In a statement released last week, the sheriff's office said Forsyth County Major Crimes Unit has been 'tirelessly working' on the case ever since, and on 19 May deputies made an arrest.
"Four years ago, I said in this room, and I told you, we will bring this person to justice," Forsyth County Sheriff Ron Freeman told reporters. "Little did I know it was going to take four years."
Thanks to 'thousands of hours' of work, investigators made a breakthrough last year when they were able to identify the baby's father through DNA.
DNA evidence then further revealed that 40-year-old Karima Jiwani, of southeast Forsyth County, was baby India's biological mother.
Freeman explained that investigators had found Jiwani had a 'history of hidden and concealed pregnancies and surprise births', and that while pregnant with India she had gone to 'extremes to conceal' the fact she was carrying a baby.
Police believe the baby may have been born in a car before being driven for a 'significant period of time' to the location where she was found.
"This child was tied up in a plastic bag and thrown into the woods like a bag of trash. I can't understand that," Freeman said. "It literally is one of the saddest things I have ever seen."
Jiwani has been charged with criminal attempt to commit murder, cruelty to children in the first degree, aggravated assault and reckless abandonment.
The mother was taken to Forsyth County Jail, where she was held without bond. It's unclear whether the father knew about the baby.
Freeman didn't share many updates about India, but assured she is 'happy and healthy', and 'prospering'.
Emily Brown