‘Baby 81’ back home after tsunami ordeal

THE four-month-old boy who was swept from his mother’s arms by the Asian tsunami eight weeks ago and later nicknamed “Baby 81” was handed to his parents in a joyous courtroom reunion yesterday after an agonising custody battle of nearly eight weeks.

A smiling Jenita Jeyarajah took her little son, Abilass, from a doctor’s arms after she and her husband, Murugupillai, approached the bench in a courtroom packed with onlookers.

“Look how happy he is! He knows the scent of his parents,” Murugupillai Jeyarajah said later. “After returning to us, he still hasn’t cried.”

The reunion concluded a drama that captured hearts in Sri Lanka and around the world, and came two days after a judge confirmed the infant’s parentage with DNA test results. Initially, eight other couples had tried to claim the baby.

Moments after yesterday’s brief proceedings, the couple and Abilass left in a UNICEF vehicle to a local hospital, where the family prayed at a Hindu temple.

The relieved parents also paid a brief visit to the rubble of their destroyed home, where the raging waters had pulled the boy from his mother’s arms. A villager recovered Abilass Jeyarajah from mud and debris hours later on December 26, and brought him to the hospital, where he became the day’s 81st admission, earning him the nickname “Baby 81.”

“I want to teach my child well and bring him up as any other parents would,” Murugupillai said.

He said he planned to stay with Abilass for four or five days before returning to work as a barber.

The couple initially was unable to prove the boy was theirs because their home and family records were swept away by the tsunami. The court had ordered the boy kept in the hospital until the DNA results came in.

At yesterday’s court proceedings, Kalmunai Judge M.P. Mohaideen officially declared the couple to be the boy’s parents, apologised for any inconvenience from the case and wished Abilass a prosperous future.

He said the court process had been necessary to ensure that the boy could have a normal life and that he wasn’t claimed by the wrong parents.

According to UN estimates, children accounted for a staggering 40%, or 12,000, of Sri Lanka’s tsunami death toll of nearly 31,000.