(Trinidad Guardian) Twenty-one-year-old toy store manager Steven Redhead is today a local hero, after his sharp hearing caught the cries of what he initially thought were kittens coming from the bushes as he and his brother Reynaldo were walking to get transport for work yesterday morning. Those cries turned out to be from a baby girl who was abandoned in some bushes mere metres from the major road that runs parallel to the entrance of Beaucarro Village in Freeport, Central Trinidad.
The baby girl, who was dressed in a fuchsia pink onesie and a pair of matching socks, is believed to be a few weeks old. She was found lying on her back on the grass under the direct rays of the hot sweltering sun. Her blanket was bundled up next to her.
Speaking with Guardian Media yesterday, Redhead said he did not see himself as a hero, as he was sure if someone else had passed by and heard what he did they would have done the right thing, just like he did.
Redhead, a manager at Toymart in Pennywise Plaza, Chaguanas, was walking out of Beaucarro Village to the Old Southern Main Road with Reynaldo to get transport to head to work when they made the discovery.
“Me and my brother was going to work and passing by the shed (an abandoned vendor’s shed) we heard like a kitten, like the newborn kittens when they born. But my mind didn’t want to think so, so upon further investigation, I went behind the shed and search through the bush to see what I can find and when I walked through a long way I saw the blue blanket and then I see like a bright pink and when I walked further I see a little baby and it was like kicking up and stuff,” Redhead recalled.
He said on seeing the baby he ran back out to tell his brother.
“Both of us walked back in and then we alerted the police one time. The ambulance called and we had to stay on the line while they were on their way.” Asked how he felt on discovering the abandoned baby, Redhead replied: “I was shocked. I heard things like that before on the news but I never experienced it before so I didn’t know how to feel. I was just shaking and didn’t know what to do.”
Several officers, including WPC Cuffy-Joseph, PC Ramnath and PC Mohit, responded to a call at about 10.45 am from the Police Command Centre. They then proceeded to Beaucarro Junction, where they met Redhead and his brother, who led them to the crying child.
The EHS was also contacted and with the assistance of the officers, they took the baby to the Couva Health Facility where she was handed over to doctors. The baby, according to the doctors, appeared to be healthy although a bit dehydrated.
The baby was kept at the medical facility for further examination.
With the suspicion that the baby’s mother and/or parents could have been as young as he was, Redhead had a message for them and in general the youths of the nation.
“I would like to think is youths that would do that, so first you doing adult things, so then be prepared to suffer the consequences of your adult situations if not then be more careful.”
When the picture of the abandoned baby was first posted up on social media, many described it as “barbaric.” However, Redhead said the discovery to him was “disgusting.”
“I feel that anybody else would have done what I did in that situation but I was disgusted that’s all.”
Investigators are now searching for the parents of the infant and are asking anyone with information to call 999 or contact the Chaguanas, Freeport or Couva Police Stations.
Investigations are continuing.
