23-year-old Indian American Woman Took a Nap After Throwing Newborn Out of the Window: NYPD
- Sabita Dookram of Queens, New York, secretly gave birth in the bathtub and then tossed the baby out from the bathroom window.
An Indian origin young woman has been charged with attempted murder after secretly giving birth to a baby boy in a bathroom and then allegedly throwing the new born out of the window into an alley in Ozone Park in Queens, according to media reports.
ABC7 New York reported that the infant, who remarkably survived the fall, was taken to Cohen Children’s Medical Center in critical condition. “He has numerous injuries including brain bleeding, swelling of his brain, skull fracture, internal damage and internal bleeding,’’ Assistant District Attorney Melissa Kelly said in court.
The boy — referred to as “John Doe’’ by police because he had yet to be named — weighed 6 pounds, 8 ounces at birth and was full term, according to court papers.
The 23-year-old mother, Sabita Dookram, has since been taken into custody. The baby was discovered with his umbilical cord still attached outside a home at 126th Street in South Ozone Park, Queens, at around 10:15 am, on Sunday, October 11. Investigators learned that Dookram had just given birth in the bathtub, then tossed the baby out from the bathroom window.
According to court papers filed Tuesday, Dookram simply showered and took a nap afterward.
A responding cop found “what appeared to be blood on the ground next to the garbage where the baby boy was found and on the side of the wall of the [home], leading up to the first floor bathroom window.
“He also observed blood in the window sill of said bathroom window,’’ according to the complaint.
Dookram, cruelly ignored her gravely injured baby’s cries — which were caught on local surveillance tape — as his tiny body lay next to the garbage 5 feet below, prosecutors said.
Instead, the mom cleaned up the bathroom with a yellow towel — and when her sister-in-law told her she thought she heard a baby wailing outside, and even then, Dookram kept silent, the criminal complaint states.
“I panicked and threw it out of the bathroom window,’’ Dookram allegedly told cops on Sunday. “I did not check on the baby. I put my clothes in the laundry hamper in the bathroom, I showered and went to sleep.”
Dookram said she “cut the cord with a scissor from the bathroom.’’
“I had a baby out of nowhere,’’ Dookram states — even though she allegedly admitted she knew she was pregnant from a one-night stand around her birthday with a coworker at JFK Airport, where she works.
“I went to the bathroom, and the baby popped out of me. I didn’t know what to do, I’m sorry,’’ Dookram allegedly told investigators.
The newborn remains hospitalized and his condition is improving. Dr. Peter Silver, medical director at the hospital, told CBS2 that it’s important to remember the Abandoned Infant Protection Act or Safe Haven Law is designed to prevent situations like this. “What that law states is that parents can anonymously turn over an unwanted baby, as long as they do it in a safe way and the baby is not injured, up to 30 days of age. Again, as long as the baby is cared for and somebody knows the baby is there,” Silver said.
A woman who lives next door said she stepped outside her house on Sunday morning to empty the trash when she heard a baby crying. “I went to close the gate and I heard a noise. I looked and saw it’s a baby crying” she told NBC. Through tears, she said the baby did not have a blanket or any other covering. Another neighbor said the baby was “still moving” when he saw it, as it was being taken by authorities. “For something like that to happen, it’s heartbreaking man. It’s heartbreaking,” he told NBC.
A next-door neighbor said Monday that she knows the baby’s mother but “didn’t notice she was pregnant.” She added that she is unaware of a husband in the picture.
ADA Kelly, in arguing for $50,000 bail for the suspect, noted that Dookram “is able to hold down a job. Meanwhile, she threw a full-term baby boy out of a window over 5 feet high and left him naked on the ground for several hours.”
“She is able to do her laundry. She is able to clean the bathroom … all while the child was crying,’’ Kelly said — adding that authorities have video surveillance “where we can hear the baby’s wails.”
The prosecutor claimed that Dookram made “numerous contradictory statements” to cops to cover up her heinous crime. For example, the father of the child reportedly knew she was pregnant, but Dookram claimed she had recently miscarried, Kelly said.
As soon as the news of the incident came to light, people started slamming Dookram for the hideous act online. As one internet user shared her picture and wrote, “Why? Queens mom throws newborn baby out window – South Ozone Park window.… #Sabita Dookram #South Richmond Hill.”
Another angry Netizen wrote, “That Sabita Dookram bi**h deserves to burn in hell.” While another one wrote, “That cold-blooded serpent offspring at it again. We can’t expect them to love, not even each other.”
Dookram underwent psychological evaluation at the Jamaican Hospital in New York City, after the incident. According to a New York Post report, she was hit with seven criminal charges. Those charges include attempted murder, attempted manslaughter, assault, reckless endangerment, tampering with physical evidence, abandonment of a child and acting in a manner to injure a child, police said.
Her lawyer, David Guy, entered her plea of “not guilty.” He agreed to the $50,000 bail, and the judge sealed the deal, ordering Dookram back in court Nov. 5.
Guy said his client’s family might put up their house to secure bail for her.
There is an order of protection against her preventing her from seeing her baby.
Dookram, when asked by the judge if she understood the order of protection, replied, “Yes, I understand.’’
(Top photo, Sabita Dookram being taken into custody by NYPD in Queens on Oct. 11. Photo courtesy, NBC.)