FILE: DNA TESTS BACK SRI LANKAN COUPLE'S CLAIM THAT BABY RESCUED FROM TSUNAMI IS THEIR SON.
Record ID:
649288
FILE: DNA TESTS BACK SRI LANKAN COUPLE'S CLAIM THAT BABY RESCUED FROM TSUNAMI IS THEIR SON.
- Title: FILE: DNA TESTS BACK SRI LANKAN COUPLE'S CLAIM THAT BABY RESCUED FROM TSUNAMI IS THEIR SON.
- Date: 14th February 2005
- Summary: (W3) KALMUNAI, EASTERN SRI LANKA (FILE - JANUARY 2005) (REUTERS) 1. GV: CHILDREN AND THEIR MOTHERS IN THE PAEDIATRIC WARD OF THE KALMUNAI BASE HOSPITAL 0.05 2. MV: NURSE ENTERS THE ROOM FOR THE SPECIAL TREATMENT 0.11 3. MCU/CU: BABY IN BED (2 SHOTS) 0.22 4. MV: NURSE REMOVES NET PROTECTION OVER BABIES BED 0.28 5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) DOCTOR KANDASAMY MURUGANANDAN, MEDICAL SUPERINTENDENT OF THE KALMUNAI BASE HOSPITAL, SAYING: "So lot of people are demanding and asking to adopt the baby and to look after the baby. But we cannot give the baby to them to look after because even our hospital staff is also willing to take the baby. We cannot give the baby simply for the adoption. So we are waiting for the real mother to come and appear to us or appear to the court or police, who can proof their identity as the baby's parents." 0.54 6. CU: BABY-81 1.00 (W3) KALMUNAI, EASTERN SRI LANKA (FILE - FEBRUARY 2005) (REUTERS) 7. GV: CROWD OUTSIDE HOSPITAL 1.09 8. MV/CU: WOMAN, CLAIMING BABY IS HERS SCREAMING, SURROUNDED BY JOURNALISTS (2 SHOTS) 1.25 9. MV/CU: BABY IN COT (2 SHOTS) 1.35 10. MCU: WOMAN WHOM COURT HAS ORDERED TO UNDERGO A DNA TEST CARRYING THE BABY OUT OF THE COT 1.38 11. MV: COUPLE (BELIEVED TO BE THE REAL PARENTS) WITH BABY; MAN SCREAMING AT NURSE (3 SHOTS) 2.09 (W3) COLOMBO, SRI LANKA (FILE - FEBRUARY 2005) (REUTERS) 12. GV: AMBULANCE ARRIVING WITH BABY 81 2.13 13. MV: NURSE HOLDING BABY 81 2.17 14. MV: POLICE IN AMBULANCE 2.20 15. CU: BABY CRYING 2.24 16. MV/PAN: NURSE CARRYING BABY INTO MEDICAL CENTRE SURROUNDED BY MEDIA 2.35 17. MV/PAN: COUPLE CLAIMING PARENTAGE OF BABY 81 WALKING IN WITH UN OFFICIAL 2.41 18. MV: COUPLE SEATED 2.50 19. CU: "GENTECH" SIGN 2.56 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 1st March 2005 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: KALMUNAI AND COLOMBO, SRI LANKA
- Country: Sri Lanka
- Reuters ID: LVAIGFHREO4OQ56EMQVHPRDZLLF
- Story Text: Tests back a Sri Lankan couple's claim that a baby
boy rescued from the tsunami is their son.
Sri Lanka's three-month-old "Baby 81", who was found
alive among tsunami debris and became a beacon for bereaved
couples, is to be reunited with his parents after positive
DNA tests, court officials said on Monday (February 14).
On December 26, Baby 81, aged between tree and four
months was brought by an old man to Kalmunai hospital. It
was in very bad condition, with lot of bruisers and a head
injury. At first, doctors thought that baby was dead, but
after treatment in the intensive care, they managed to lead
him to recovery.
A few days later two or three women came to the
hospital and claimed that they were the baby's mothers.
As none of them was able to prove it, the hospital
superintendent sought the help of the police and police
involved the court.
The court ruled that the baby had to stay in the
hospital until someone proves that they are the real
mother.
The hospital superintendent, Doctor Kandasamy
Muruganandan, said that only DNA test could determine the
real parent of the baby.
If no woman can prove that the baby is hers, the
hospital will hand it over to a probation officer, who will
make the final decision on who should look after the baby,
with the possibility not ruled out that the baby could stay
with the probation officer he told Reuters.
On February 2, a Sri Lankan court ordered a DNA test to
determine whether a couple --Murugupillai Jeyarajah and his
wife, Jenita -- claiming to be the parents of baby 81 were
really his mother and father.
Newspapers reported the same day that nine women
claimed the boy as their son, but police said only one
couple had said the baby was theirs.
A district judge in Sri Lanka's eastern fishing hamlet
of Kalmunai ordered the infant to be returned to the care
of staff at a local hospital, pending results of the test.
The court's decision did not go down well with the
couple.
"When the judge announced the decision, the gentleman
claiming to be the boy's father almost fainted in court and
threatened to kill himself," the court's registrar, M. S.
M. Nazeer, told Reuters.
The couple was later detained by police after an
argument at the hospital where they went to see the child.
Murugupillai Jeyarajah, a 31-year-old barber, and
Jenita, lodged a formal custody claim with the court last
month, saying documents proving the boy was theirs were
lost in the tsunami.
The infant became known as "Baby 81" because the
three-month old was the 81st person to be brought to the
Kalmunai hospital the day the tsunami struck and killed
about 40,000 Sri Lankans.
"Baby 81" miraculously survived the giant waves that
thrashed his village and was found amidst the debris by
rescuers.
On February 9 baby 81 and the couple arrived in Sri
Lanka's capital for DNA tests. The tests were overseen by
UNICEF and the results were said to take a week.
Finally on Monday (February 14) the court ruled that
Murugupillai Jeyarajah and Jenita was the real parents of
baby Abilash.
But his parents will have to wait another two days for
the courts to complete legal formalities.
"The parents have been ordered to come to court on
Wednesday (February 15), when the baby will be given. They
have to wait only two more days," M.S.M Nazeer, Kalmunai
court registrar told Reuters.
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