Two-faced baby dies of alleged starvation

BOGOR (JP): A baby girl who was born with two faces in Kampung Cangkurawok, Babakan village, Darmaga district, allegedly starved to death on Friday afternoon, a relative said yesterday.

Yunani Yunana was born to her mother, 17-year-old Maryati, at 10 a.m. on Tuesday in a local clinic with the help of a nurse.

Her grandmother, Satni, 60, said Maryati was unable to breast feed the baby for medical reasons and her mouth was too small to suckle on a bottle.

"The mother was not able to breast feed her baby and the child's mouth was too small to suckle on a bottle," she told The Jakarta Post yesterday.

Satni said the baby had been spoon fed milk.

Maryati said Yunani Yunana, her first child, weighed 2.2 kilograms at birth and was 49 centimeters long. She was born with two faces and one pair of ears.

"Each of her faces had a pair of eyes and eyebrows, a nose and a mouth," she said.

There was no indication of the abnormalities during pregnancy, said Maryati, who is married to Chaeruddin, 18, a public transport driver.

Chaeruddin said his baby's left face was definitely less active than the face on the right.

"She drank and cried from the mouth on her right face," he said.

After her birth, Yunani Yunana was not taken to hospital for medical checkups on her condition.

Chaeruddin's sister Mardiyah said the family decided not to follow the advice of a nurse and take the baby to Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital in Central Jakarta for an examination because they did not believe the problem could be solved.

"Besides, where would we get the money to pay for the treatment," she said.

No postmortem examination was conducted on the baby. She was buried in a nearby cemetery on Saturday.

News of the baby's condition drew hundreds of onlookers to the house whose lack of sensitivity piled more pain on the already anguished family.

Chaeruddin said it was tragic to see his daughter become a public spectacle, but added he was powerless to stop the crowds of onlookers from getting their way.

He said the family was also upset to hear that a person was allegedly selling pictures of his baby to the public for Rp 2,500, and threatened to take legal action if it proved to be true.

He said a person claiming to be a reporter had taken a picture of Yunani when she was still alive. (24/cst)