Baby Rescued From Sydney Storm Drain; Mother Allegedly Admitted Abandoning Newborn

A woman accused of leaving her newborn in a storm drain in Sydney has been denied bail following a brief hearing. The 30-year-old woman was formally charged in Blacktown Local Court Monday, Australian time, with attempted murder of the week-old infant boy.

The baby was reported in serious but stable condition at the Children's Hospital at Westmead.

The baby was found by cyclists riding along a bike track early Sunday and it took police about seven hours to find the child's mother, a police statement said. Police said they think the baby had been in the drain since Tuesday.

Court documents indicated the mother, whose name was withheld, "made full admissions to putting the less than 24-hour-old baby down a 2.4-meter [nearly 8-foot] drain knowing it may kill the baby," the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The Herald said the woman did not appear in court but family members attended and later were accosted outside by angry members of the public, yelling, "You ought to be ashamed."

The baby, still swaddled in a hospital blanket, was found beneath a concrete slab that took three police officers to lift, the Sydney Daily Telegraph reported.

“We actually thought it was a kitten at first but when we went down there we could hear exactly what it was -- you could definitely tell it was a baby screaming,” David Otte, one of the cyclists who heard the baby crying, told the Telegraph.

Inspector David Lagats said the baby was malnourished and suffering from dehydration. The Department of Families and Community Services said the child likely would be put into state custody.