Judge to decide future of 'Baby 81'

The future of the tsunami survivor known as “Baby 81” is to be decided at a court hearing, with only one couple having lodged a formal custody petition out of nine original claimants.

“I believe in God, and I am sure my baby will be given to me,” said Murugupillai Jeyarajah, who with his wife Jenita submitted a custody claim for the boy who was found alone after the December 26 tsunami struck the eastern town of Kalmunai.

The boy is known as “Baby 81” because he was the 81st person to be admitted to the Kalmunai hospital on the day the tsunami swept across southern Asia, killing more than 100,000 people.

Jenita Jeyarajah says the tsunami ripped her son, Abilass, from her arms as the waves crashed against her beach-front house. The couple says the tsunami destroyed the family’s records, including those that would prove the child is theirs.

In the days after the tragedy, hospital officials said nine women claimed the baby, a heart-wrenching dilemma amid the chaos of those early days when parents were frantically searching for missing children.

But only the Jeyarajahs filed for custody with the court. The other women have not pursued the matter legally, police and hospital officials said.

On January 12, a court ordered the hospital to give the baby to the Jeyarajahs until his parentage could be determined. But doctors at the hospital said they were concerned about the rival claims and refused to comply, arguing that the child still needed medical attention, according to court documents.

The court is to convene again tomorrow and may order a DNA test – an expensive procedure in the poor region.

The case is to be heard by a single judge, M.P. Mohaideen, with no jury.

H M P Herath, a police inspector who investigated the case, signalled that he believed the Jeyarajahs would get custody of the child.

“This baby has gone through enough trouble. The time has now come for him to go home,” he said.

Today some of the 82 nurses at the hospital who have kept a 24-hour vigil at his crib visited the baby to say goodbye.

“We are praying that he is handed over to the right parents,” said nurse S Rajeswari. “At the same time I don’t want to leave the baby. I will be very sad when he goes.”

Baby 81 was found among dead bodies and debris about nine hours after the tsunami slammed into Sri Lanka’s eastern shore, witnesses said.