Girl who aborted her child may face murder charge

A picture grab from the video clip shows a woman dropping a bag said to contain the aborted child in a trash bin on Sunday. (Photo from father-in-law's Facebook account)

A teenage girl who deliberately terminated her 8-month pregnancy could face a murder charge if forensic tests show the child was alive before she dumped it in a trash bin, police said on Wednesday.

The 17-year-old cannot be named because she is still a minor. The child's body was found in a plastic bag among the garbage at an apartment complex in Khlong Sam Wa district.

Pol Col Sing Singdet, superintendent of Kannayao police station, said she will initially be charged with an illegal abortion. But she could face charges of premeditated murder and hiding a corpse if it is proved the foetus lived after she terminated the pregnancy.

Abortion carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a fine of 6,000 baht.

The mother terminated the pregnancy on Sunday because she was not ready to have a baby while her husband was in jail serving a drug sentence, according to her father-in-law. She had bought "abortion pills" on the internet, police said.

She was left exhausted afterwards and was taken to hospital by friends.

The case went viral on Tuesday when the father-in-law-posted a video clip showing her dumping the 8-month-old foetus into a trash bin on his Facebook account, with a message strongly criticising her decision.

He went to the police station on Wednesday and submitted the video clip to police as evidence. "I am shattered. I don't want this to happen to others," he told reporters.

Pol Col Sing said investigators had questioned about five witnesses. They were now waiting for the girl to report to the station to hear the charge aganst her.