Nothing found to suggest Bray baby deliberately injured

The postmortem on the body of a newborn baby girl found at a waste recycling plant near Bray on Wednesday has found nothing to suggest deliberate injuries were caused to the infant.

Gardaí have renewed their plea to the mother to come forward to receive medical assistance and other supports.

The Greenstar recycling facilty in Fassaroe near Bray remains sealed off with gardaí investigating the site where the body was discovered at about 11am on Wednesday. They are hoping to find some clue to indicate where in the country the baby came from. The facility processes material from throughout Ireland.

“The findings of the post mortem would suggest that the baby was born some weeks earlier than initially thought,” a Garda statement released on Thursday night said.

“There is nothing to suggest deliberate injuries were caused to the baby. It is confirmed that the baby is female and Caucasian.”

Following the part release of postmortem results, superintendent Pat Ward of Bray urged the mother to seek immediate medical treatment.

"I am available here at Bray Garda station to help the mum and dad of this baby girl and if they would contact me or sergeant Sorcha Fitzpatrick, we will deal with any contact with us discreetly and sensitively."

It is not known whether the baby was born alive. Gardaí believe the pregnancy had probably progressed to full term. The infant was not clothed when found.

“It is possible that the baby was stillborn and if this is the case my priority now is to get all medical assistance and support to the baby’s mum,” Supt Ward said in a briefing.

“I am very concerned for the welfare of the mum of this baby as she is possibly in a distressed state and in need of medical assistance.”

The employee who found the child had been separating recyclable material when he came upon what he initially thought to be a doll.

Mike Berry, a forensic psychologist at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, said he suspected it was a young mother and the more time it took to locate her, the more distressed she was likely to be.

“Probably a teenager who found herself pregnant and was able to hide the pregnancy from family and friends,” he said.

“She has given birth, probably quite surprised by the whole process and then she’s absolutely terrified of being caught, and disposed of the baby. Not in a cold blooded way, more in a sense of panic.”

Mr Berry told the Pat Kenny Show on Newstalk research showed the younger the mother the less likely she was to report pain or psychological problems.

“She’s likely to be very frightened, very distressed. The important message is that she needs to get psychological and physical help.”

He said another possibility was an older woman who might have had a child by the wrong man.

Mr Berry said gardaí had shared little information “because they don’t want to get loads of people ringing up saying I think my child’s had a child”.

“Unfortunately, they will get lots of phone calls, some of them will be people who are mentally ill, others from people who think they know something about the case, people wanting to help,” he said.

“This will add to the confusion of the case. They need to have something unique to the mother.”