Mother accused of abandoning newborn found alive in woods denied bond in ‘Baby India’ case

A girl accused of hanging her newborn in a plastic bag and abandoning her in the Georgia woods just about 4 years in the past has been denied bond after prosecutors argued she may just intimidate doable witnesses in the “Baby India” case.

Karima Jiwani, 40, made her first courtroom look Saturday morning after being arrested this week, showing just about from the Forsyth County Jail.

The child lady, referred to as India, used to be found alive in just right situation in a wooded house in Forsyth County at the evening of June 6, 2019, government mentioned. A neighborhood circle of relatives instructed “Good Morning America” on the time they’d heard crying and known as 911 after discovering the newborn in a plastic bag.

Jiwani faces fees together with prison try to devote homicide, cruelty to youngsters in the primary level, annoyed attack and reckless abandonment. She faces as much as 30 years in jail if convicted, prosecutors mentioned.

Penny Penn, district lawyer for the Bell-Forsyth Judicial Circuit, instructed the courtroom that prosecutors have DNA proof proving that Jiwani is the organic mom of the kid, in addition to corroborative proof together with the defendant’s personal interview statements in the case.

Penn mentioned proof will display the newborn used to be “dumped’ on the side of the road approximately 12 to 30 hours after India was born and that there was “no indication that this kid used to be left for any individual else to seek out.”

“By the defendant’s personal remark all the way through the interview, this used to be a kid that she attempted to kill,” Penn said. “That used to be unquestionably her intent.”

Penn asked that Jiwani be held without bond, saying that the defendant’s husband and children are potential witnesses in the case and that the prosecution is “involved concerning the possibility of intimidation” if she were to return home.

Defense attorney E. Jay Abt said Jiwani is a stay-at-home mother with three minor children and noted she has no criminal history while arguing for $100,000 bond along with a house arrest and GPS ankle monitor.

“This lady suffered from postpartum melancholy and postpartum psychosis,” Abt told the court. “There are intensive clinical data to display that and in the end skilled testimony to end up that.”

Penn countered that postpartum depression was unlikely to be a factor and that “there is not any proof to signify that the defendant used to be affected by any type of psychosis.”

Chief Magistrate Keisha Martin Chambless said she did have concerns about the risk of Jiwami fleeing and intimidating witnesses while denying bond at this time.

When the judge asked Jiwani if she had any questions, her defense attorney advised her not to say anything.

A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for June 13.

Jiwani, of Forsyth County, used to be arrested on Thursday following a just about four-year investigation that noticed the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office unencumber frame digital camera pictures of the newborn’s restoration as they tried to spot her.

Forsyth County Sheriff Ron Freeman told reporters in a press briefing announcing the arrest on Friday that investigators were able to identify the child’s father through “complicated DNA investigative apply” about 10 months ago. Further DNA evidence confirmed Jiwani to be the child’s biological mother, according to Freeman.

There is currently no evidence to suggest that the child’s father knew of the pregnancy or abandonment, the sheriff said.

Based on interviews with family and medical professionals, Jiwani reportedly had a “historical past of hidden and hid pregnancies and marvel births,” and while pregnant with India “went to extremes to hide this being pregnant,” Freeman said. Investigators have not found any prior criminal acts regarding Jiwani, he said.

Freeman said he would not discuss India besides saying she’s “glad and wholesome.”

ABC News’ Jianna Cousin contributed to this record.