Baby found by refuse workers outside Belfast shopping centre

Man and woman charged with child cruelty after discovery on Sunday afternoon

The child was discovered outside a busy shopping centre in the heart of Belfast

A man and a woman have been charged after a baby was found abandoned outside a Belfast shopping centre on Sunday afternoon.

The baby, believed to be about one month old, was discovered by refuse workers outside the Castle Court shopping centre on Royal Avenue – a main thoroughfare in the centre of the city.

The child is said to have been wrapped in a blanket, but it is not known how long it was left unattended. Shoppers looked on as an ambulance then arrived to treat the child, before it was taken to the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children.

In a statement, the PSNI confirmed “a 41-year-old man was charged with child cruelty and a 38-year-old woman was charged with child cruelty and possession of a controlled class C drug.”

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph, the city’s deputy lord mayor Emmet McDonough-Brown described the incident as shocking.

“What it seems like to me is that if they are the child’s parents, they are struggling and my heart goes out to them. I hope that they get the help and support they need to be better parents.

”I would urge any parent out there struggling to avail of the help services that are available to them.”

The man and woman who have been arrested will both appear before Belfast Magistrate’s Court next month.