Police provide protection to mother of dead baby

magda's funeral, Feb 15: photo - PAP/Jacek Bednarczyk

Katarzyna W. was released on bail on Wednesday afternoon, but she was not allowed to attend the funeral of her daughter Magda earlier that day, after family members objected to the mother's request to do so.

The mother had initially won the sympathy of Poles nationwide after claiming that the child had been abducted in the family's home city of Sosnowiec on 24 January.

Katarzyna W. told police that she fell unconscious in the street, and accused a hooded male figure of abducting the baby from its pram.

However, the mother later confessed that the baby had died during an accident in her apartment.

Katarzyna W. revealed that she had hidden the baby's body in a ruined railway building in the city. The child was duly discovered there by police.

Approximately 1000 people attended the funeral of the baby at the Church of St Joseph in Sosnowiec.

When the white coffin was transported from the church to the adjoining graveyard a little before 3 o'clock, residents lined an avenue through the cemetery, in tribute to the infant.

Katarzyna W. faces five years in prison for manslaughter, if found guilty. (nh/pg)

Source: PAP