An inquest in Letterkenny yesterday heard about the events leading to the finding of the body of a new-born infant in a shallow grave in a bog in Inishowen, Co Donegal, last June.
The mother of the baby boy, a 17-year-old second-level student at the time, had given birth to the baby boy in her bedroom while her mother was downstairs, oblivious to what was happening.
The inquest heard the girl had told her 22-year-old boyfriend she was pregnant but had been too afraid to tell her parents.
Having stayed home on June 6th, 1999, to study, she awoke with pains and took a bath around 10 a.m. to try to relieve them, to no avail.
Her mother brought her up toast about 11 a.m. By 1 p.m. the pain was "unbearable" and she realised she was having the baby.
She placed two pillows behind her on the bed and two towels beneath her and began to push. She was afraid to call her mother, she stated.
When she saw the baby's head emerge she put her hands down to support him.
The baby lived for a few minutes and cried softly and then she described how he stopped breathing and his chest stopped moving.
She wrapped him in the towels with the umbilical cord and placenta still attached and placed him in her schoolbag.
"I did not make any noise as I was conscious there were people in the house," she said.
When her mother went to the shops at 2 p.m. the girl's boyfriend rang and she told him to come and get her.
She got into his van carrying the schoolbag and told him she had "lost the baby". He had wanted her to go to the doctor but she refused and became hysterical.
He borrowed a shovel and they drove to a remote bog 1 1/2 miles off the main road outside the town where they lived. He dug a two-foot square hole close to stacked up turf bags and buried the baby wrapped in the towels.
The owner of the turf arrived and the couple drove away. The farmer recognised the driver of the van and wondered what they were doing there, but he collected some turf and left as he was in a hurry.
On June 18th, he returned to the bog to get more turf. He went to the area where he had seen the couple and noticed the small square that had been dug and replaced.
He lifted the sods and saw the baby's tiny hand and head. The farmer then covered the body again and went to the gardai.
The area was cordoned off and the baby's body was removed to Letterkenny General Hospital where State Pathologist Dr John Harbison conducted a postmortem.
Dr Harbison told the inquest the baby had been of 26 weeks' gestation and had a poor chance of survival outside a neonatal unit. The baby's lungs had not expanded although it did manage a little cry, he said. His report concluded that the cause of death was prematurity.
The jury recorded a verdict in keeping with Dr Harbison's findings and offered its sympathy to the couple.
Deputy coroner Dr John Madden said it was a terrible tragedy for everyone and offered his sympathy to all concerned.