Child abandoned in Kuwait park ‘born out of wedlock’

Manama: The three-year-old boy found alone in a park in Kuwait on Sunday was abandoned by his single mother because he was born out of wedlock.

Police issued calls to help identify him after they were able only to establish his name, Jassem.

On Monday, his mother walked into a police station and demanded to be reunited with her son, explaining that she had no other option than abandoning him after his father refused to recognize him, local Arabic daily Al Rai reported.

The mother told the police that Jassem was born out of wedlock and had no identity papers. She however showed them a document stating that she was his biological mother.

She was allowed to be reunited with Jassem, but the police chief ordered an investigation into the case and possibly charging her with negligence towards her child after she left him alone in the park “to get rid of him.”

The mother said that she had a relationship with his father, but he refused to recognize the son. The case she filed at a local court was pending, she said.

The mother added that Jassem had lived with her for three years in a flat where she was forced to move after her family, shocked by her pregnancy, “kicked her out of their home.”

According to the police, the mother, who was not named, said that she thought about abandoning Jassem in a public place, but she did not expect the police investigation, the media attention and the social outcry.

She reportedly said that she was afraid that the focus on the case would enable the police to trace Jassem to her and she opted to claim her son.

Sources told the daily there were “serious concerns about the logic of leaving Jassem with a mother who took the strange step of abandoning him in a park.”

“The excuse presented by the mother to explain the reason for walking away from her three-year-old son is appalling,” the sources that the paper did not identify said. “The problem is that she told the police that she did not care about him because he had no identity documents.”

Online comments condemned the mother for her act and called for action against her.

“She is not a fitting mother and she should be given her son back,” Al Shimmiriya posted on the daily site. “Jassem should be placed in a care home because she does not deserve him and cannot look after him.”

Another blogger said that both the father and the mother should be punished for having the child out of wedlock, and for not caring about him.

“You are not a mother or even a human being,” Om Saleh wrote. “I am sure you are mentally deranged for what you have done. What has this boy done wrong to have you? You should think of God in whatever you think or do.”