Burned placenta nails mother

TANGERANG: A 40-year-old mother who delivered a baby without anyone's assistance on the floor of her house in Tegal Murni village, Balaraja district, Tangerang, last Friday evening, was named a suspect in the murder of her own baby.

Suspect Nunung Mariani, 40, a mother of four, who lives in the house with her paralyzed husband, had admitted that she was pregnant after having sexual relations with Mamat, 40, her neighbor who works as a driver for a private company in Tangerang, and had delivered a baby boy.

The murder was disclosed after one of Nunung's neighbors, Hj. Muri, 50, found a piece of charred flesh at a dumpsite near the suspect's house.

"At first, I thought the flesh was a baby. But in fact it was only a placenta," Muri told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

Muri then reported her discovery to neighborhood unit chief Enjen, who later reported it to the Balaraja police after Nunung refused to confirm whether it was the placenta of her own baby.

"As far as we know, no other woman was pregnant in the village apart from Nunung," Enjen told the Post. --JP