Woman machine-washes her newborn baby, faces attempt to murder

Moscow, Aug 23 (UNI) A Russian woman in Kaliningrad Region was charged for attempt to murder and put in a psychiatric ward after machine-washing her newborn baby, who survived the ordeal with severe injuries, RIA Novosti news agency reported quoting local prosecutors.

The two-week-old boy was rescued by his father, who returned home on August 18 to find the machine running with his son, along with the laundry, inside. The 32-year-old mother faced charges of attempted murder.

The child was admitted to hospital in a state of general hypothermia and with bodily injuries -- pulmonary edema (fluid accumulation in the lungs), a closed craniocerebral trauma, and fractured ribs--,"said prosecutors' spokesman in the Gvardeysky district of Russia's exclave on the Baltic.

The child's mother was suffering from a severe mental disorder and she had been admitted to the local psychiatric clinic several times in the past, he added.

Investigations were underway to establish "to what extent the woman was in control of her actions and whether she in fact intended to kill her child," he said.

UNI