Mother who left her newborn in a plastic bag in the woods has been charged with attempted murder
Nearly four years after a newborn baby was found abandoned in a plastic bag in the woods in rural Georgia, deputies have arrested a woman they believe to be the child’s biological mother and charged her with attempted murder.
Karima Jiwani, 40, was taken into custody by one of the sheriff’s deputies who had helped rescue the newborn almost four years ago.
She was charged with criminal attempt to commit murder, aggravated assault, reckless abandonment, cruelty to children in the first degree and several other charges, according to the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities in Georgia found the infant in Cumming, Georgia, after a 911 call came in on June 6, 2019. Baby India – a name given to her by authorities – was placed in the care of a foster family approved by the Georgia Department of Family and Children Services.
At the time, the sheriff’s office released video of deputies finding the newborn in the hopes that it would lead to information about the baby’s identity.
Karima Jiwani, 40, was arrested on Thursday for abandoning her infant daughter in the Georgia woods in 2019.
The video showed a deputy ripping open a plastic bag to reveal the baby girl still covered in fluids from birth with the umbilical cord attached. She was then taken to a local hospital.
The baby’s survival was called miraculous by Sheriff Ron Freeman: ‘Back then I called it divine intervention and I truly believe that, still today.’
‘If you look at everything that had to happen for this little girl to survive, for alert people to hear a sound in the woods that they thought was a wild animal, but two teenage girls who couldn’t let it go because they thought it It sounded like a baby crying,’ Freeman said Friday.
The teens convinced their father to go out in the middle of the night into the woods to try and locate the origin of the sound.
The big break in the years-long case came 10 months ago when the sheriff’s office was able to identify Baby India’s father using familial DNA. The biological father was reportedly unaware of the pregnancy and is not facing charges.
After thousands of hours of the investigation, Jiwani was arrested on Thursday and was subsequently denied bond.
‘I told you four years ago we would find ’em and my cuffs would be on ’em, and they were,’ Freeman said during a news conference.
‘How a parent, and I happen to be one too, can do such a callous thing, is both incomprehensible, to all of us, and infuriating,’ he continued.
‘I’m dumbfounded by any reasoning that could be there and how someone can have the ability to leave their own child to die.’
Sheriff Ron Freeman said the arrest came after thousands of man hours from his deputies
Baby India was found in a plastic bag in the Georgia woods, miraculously still alive after being abandoned hours after her birth
10 months ago, India’s biological father was identified using DNA testing. His positive identification led authorities to the child’s mother.
Freeman said evidence suggests Jiwani gave birth in her car and drove around ‘for a significant period of time’ before depositing the infant in the woods.
‘This child was tied up in a plastic bag and thrown into the woods like a bag of trash. I can’t understand that, I really wish I could. I struggle, but I don’t know how you can understand that. It literally is one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen,’ he said.
The sheriff’s office also alleges that Jiwani has a ‘a history of hidden and concealed pregnancies and surprise births’ and had been aware of her pregnancy for ‘a fairly considerable period of time and went through extremes to conceal’ it.
According to Freeman, baby India is currently happy and healthy.
Sheriff Freeman said baby India is now happy and thriving
During a Saturday morning court appearance, Jiwani’s attorney told the court that the woman suffered from postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis like ‘millions’ of other women across the country.
He also pointed out that Jiwani has no criminal record and is a homeowner and stay-at-home mom to three children.
District Attorney Penny Penn rebuked the claim, saying that postpartum depression doesn’t set it until a length of time after a child’s birth and that Jiwani is accused of dumping the newborn within hours of her birth.
Penn added that Jiwani admitted to authorities that she intended to kill her child in an interview after her arrest.
Jiwani’s next hearing is set for June 13.