A Winnipeg woman has been charged with manslaughter after police say a newborn baby was found dead in a garbage bin.
Police say the baby girl was found in a bin in the 400 block of Boyd Avenue May 3.
“This is somebody that was born and discarded, has no chance of living a fulfilling life,” Cst. Claude Chancy with Winnipeg police said Wednesday.
Investigators believe the baby was alive when she was put in the garbage bin, Chancy said.
Chancy couldn’t say how long investigators think the infant, known as Baby Moar, was in the bin before being found.
He also couldn’t say exactly how old the baby was or if she’d been assaulted prior to being placed in the bin.
A woman identified as the baby’s mother arrested a few days later and brought to hospital before being taken into custody.
Police believe the infant was born at a home in the Garden City neighbourhood before being placed in a back lane garbage bin on Boyd Avenue.
Jeanene Rosa Moar, 31, of Winnipeg, was formally charged with manslaughter and concealing the body of a child Tuesday.
The accused was being held at the Women’s Correctional Institute in Headingley in connection to the case when the charges were laid Tuesday, Chancy said.
The accused remains in custody.
Police say family members have been alerted and an investigation continues.
Chancy couldn’t say whether or not anyone else may be charged in the case.
He said it is not common for police to investigate a newborn’s death.
“It’s extremely traumatic for the family. It’s extremely traumatic for the community at large,” Chancy said.
“It’s traumatic for the first responders.”
The infant’s death is considered Winnipeg’s 23 homicide of 2022, Chancy said.
On Wednesday night, a vigil was held in the back lane of Boyd Avenue near where the infant was found.
Organizer Jackeline Black says the baby was in her garbage can and she felt she had to do something to remember the infant.
“I’m just glad that everybody came together and there’s all these people that cared enough to come out and support this family whoever they are, wherever they are, if they’re here, if they’re not. I just felt like this baby needed something.”
–With files from The Canadian Press