GARDAÍ HAVE reissued an appeal for the mother of an unidentified stillborn foetus, discovered by cleaners in a toilet of a Dublin hostel more than a year ago, to come forward for assistance.
The unidentified male foetus, who was of 26 weeks gestation, was discovered by two cleaners in a toilet of a communal toilet and bathroom area of the Chelsea Hostel, Lower Gardiner Street, on August 10th, 2007, an inquest at Dublin City Coroner’s Court heard yesterday.
Ada Raczek and Bisinska Katarzyna alerted management at the premises and gardaí were contacted.
An extensive investigation was launched, with all of the guests interviewed, but despite numerous appeals in the media, the mother has never been identified.
A postmortem by the Deputy State Pathologist found that the male foetus had no anatomical defects and the findings were consistent with an intrauterine death or death in the womb. It had been dead for one or two days.
“This was an intrauterine death which may have been spontaneously miscarried, but the precise circumstances have not been determined,” coroner Dr Brian Farrell told the inquest.
A Brazilian national who was a resident at the hostel, commonly used by people looking for work, as well as backpackers and tourists, had seen the foetus in the toilet in the early hours of the morning of August 10th, and told a roommate, but they did not alert staff, Det Garda Martina Shiels of Store Street Garda station said.
Det Insp Kevin Dolan of Store Street Garda station reissued an appeal for the woman in question to come forward for help. “We would still be appealing to the woman to come forward. There is nothing criminal here and we would give her every assistance in total confidence.”
Dr Farrell reiterated the appeal.