Coventry student convicted of murder for hiding baby in cereal box

24 October 2024 , 21:43

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Coventry student convicted of murder for hiding baby in cereal box

Jia Xin Teo, 22, concealed her pregnancy from friends and gave birth in bathroom at student halls

A Coventry University student who concealed her newborn baby in a cereal box hidden inside a suitcase after giving birth on her bathroom floor has been convicted of murder.

Jia Xin Teo, a 22-year-old student from Malaysia who arrived in the UK earlier this year to study, was found guilty of murdering the baby she gave birth to in March. The trial at Warwick crown court heard how Teo concealed her pregnancy and gave birth to a full-term baby on 4 March in the en suite bathroom of her bedroom in student halls of residence. 

She placed the baby girl, who was alive when born, in a cereal box that she then put in a sealable plastic bag and placed into a suitcase. David Mason KC, prosecuting, said Teo later told police her baby had survived “at least a number of minutes” and was still moving when she placed her into the box and bag.

Teo had hidden her pregnancy, and refused help when a university friend staying in the same accommodation forced entry to her room after she had given birth and found her bed “covered in blood”. She refused to come out of the bathroom and when an ambulance was called she declined medical treatment and paramedics left. She later went to hospital by taxi when her condition deteriorated.

When questioned by hospital staff, Teo denied having given birth but when a pregnancy test came back positive, police were called to find out if she had abandoned her baby. The baby was discovered two days later when Teo admitted to what she had done, and the infant was found in her bedroom in a suitcase that her flatmates had earlier helped to move.

After admitting giving birth, Teo said she was scared in case her family and friends in Malaysia found out, and it affected her studies. She also claimed to have been hearing voices that told her to dispose of her child.

James Leslie Francis, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Baby Teo was alive after birth and could have survived, but Jia Xin Teo made the decision to place her inside a cereal box knowing that it would kill her.

“She lied to friends who cared about her, to doctors at the hospital and to the police so that no one found her baby. She did not tell the police where she hid her baby until two days had passed by which time the baby would certainly be dead.”

Grace Cooper