A two-month-old girl has died after allegedly being thrown from a moving car by her mother, who then tried to kill herself by jumping out of the vehicle, according to police.
Investigators on the Indonesian tourist island of Bali say people living near the southern city of Denpasar found the severely injured baby on a roadside less than a mile from where the woman leapt from the car. The infant died several hours later in hospital.
Officers have not been able to question the mother, identified as US citizen Nicole Stasio, because she has been hospitalised with severe depression. The 32-year-old woman, originally from California, is understood to have been in Bali for several months.
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A driver and a tour guide were in the car with Stasio when the alleged incident occurred, on Tuesday evening. The driver, Wayan Siaja and guide Made Arimbawa told police that she had jumped without warning and that they were initially unaware of what had happened to the baby, reports ABC News.
The two men said they had driven Stasio and her baby to Bali International Airport for a flight to the US, but that she had then changed her mind about returning home, says the Daily Mirror.
The tragedy is said to have happened later, as they drove towards the popular tourist town of Ubud.
Stasio had travelled to Bali with her parents in July while pregnant. Siaja and Arimbawa, who had accompanied the family since they arrived, said Stasio gave birth in September, after her parents had left the island.
Quoting information provided by the driver and guide, South Denpasar police chief Nyoman Wiarajaya told a press conference: “She refused to answer when [her parents] asked about her baby’s father. But she gave the impression that she was unmarried and her family preferred that she give birth to a child abroad, like she wanted to avoid something.”
