Abandoned baby’s family due to travel from Germany

Staff at a Dublin guesthouse were still reeling yesterday after a baby was abandoned there by his mother at the weekend.

A German woman left the baby, just weeks old, in her room before ordering a taxi for a flight home. A shocked cleaner found the baby nearly three hours later.

Gardaí have been in contact with German police and the German embassy in a bid to contact the woman and encourage her to return for her baby.

Garda sources said family members, possibly the baby’s grandparents, are expected to travel here later this week. It is not clear if the mother, who lives in Frankfurt, will return.

It is highly unlikely gardaí will launch a criminal investigation. It is thought they are treating it as a health matter. The HSE took the child into emergency care. A hospital examination found the baby to be healthy.

While the woman told staff in the city centre guesthouse her son was eight weeks’ old, gardaí said he may be younger.

The woman arrived at the Glen Guesthouse on Gardiner Street at 7pm on Friday and was checked in by the receptionist.

Goran Josifov, a senior staff member, said CCTV footage showed the woman did not have any luggage, and later showed the woman coming down to reception at 5.21am on Saturday and ordering a taxi, which arrived four minutes later.

Mr Josifov said it was almost three hours before the cleaner made the discovery. “She heard cries from a baby while in the corridor. When she opened the door she saw a baby,” he said.

He said when she looked at her list, the room was marked as departed. “She came down to me to ask was there a mistake. I went up and saw a baby by itself on the bed.” He said the baby was in the centre of the bed.

“It was probably too small to roll off, but still. It was also quite hot as the heating was left on.”

He said he immediately called the gardaí at 8.20am. Mr Josifov said he spoke to the taxi driver who collected the woman.

“She told him she was getting a Lufthansa flight to Germany. He said she spoke English with a German accent.”

The driver said the woman asked him to stop at a hostel where she picked up luggage before travelling to the airport.