A Georgia woman has been charged with abandoning her newborn in a plastic bag and leaving her for dead in the woods four years ago.
The infant, dubbed “Baby India” by hospital staff, survived the ordeal and is now “happy, healthy and in a safe place,” Forsyth County Sheriff Ron H. Freeman said at a news conference on Friday.
Karima Jiwani, 40, made her first court appearance Saturday and was denied bond when prosecutors argued that she is a flight risk and might intimidate witnesses, WXIA reported.
Jiwani was taken into custody earlier this week and charged with criminal attempt to commit murder, first degree cruelty to children, aggravated assault, and reckless abandonment.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Baby India was found by a family who returned home from a trip on June 6, 2019, and heard faint cries coming from the woods. They grabbed flashlights and walked toward the cries, eventually finding a newborn baby girl, wrapped in plastic.
Freeman announced the arrest on Friday and said Jiwani was the sole suspect in the case. He explained that investigators had a break in the case 10 months earlier when DNA led to the child’s father, and evidence led back to Jiwani. The father, Freeman said, never knew Jiwani was pregnant and had no idea the child existed.
Investigators believe Jiwani gave birth in a car and drove around for a while before the newborn was “thrown into the woods like a bag of trash,” Freeman said.
“I can’t understand that,” Freeman said. “It literally is one of the saddest things I have ever seen.”
Freeman said that evidence shows that Jiwani has “a history of hidden and concealed pregnancies and surprise births” and appeared to have gone to great lengths to hide her pregnancy with Baby India.
Although he declined to provide any details about Baby India’s current situation, for security reasons, he praised the Forsyth County community for stepping up when the baby was found.
“When a biological parent wouldn’t do what they’re supposed to do, Forsyth County surrounded this little girl with love, care and prayers and lifted her up the way it’s supposed to be,” he said.
Jiwani is now married and has three children, her attorney said at Saturday’s court hearing, WAGA said. Her next hearing is scheduled for June 13.
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[Featured image: Baby India and Karima Jiwani/Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office]
