After delivering her baby in a culvert by the side of the road and having the umbilical cord cut by a stranger, Tanya Burrell proceeded to leave the child on the grounds of a church, just a few feet away from an ant's nest.

Burrell, a 26-year-old un-employed resident of Old Stony Hill Road, St. Andrew, appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday to answer to a child abandonment charge.

The facts are that on January 21, Burrell left the baby, wrapped in a brown jacket, on the premises of a Methodist church in the community. The newborn was found by members of the church who turned up for Sunday service. The baby, still covered in blood and amniotic fluid, was found in the grass.

The child was taken to the Stony Hill Police Station and then subsequently to the Bustamante Children's Hospital.

Burrell was taken into custody a few days later, after the police received information from residents of the area. She was admitted to the Kingston Public Hospital for treatment, as she had not been to a doctor after delivering the child. When admitted, she reportedly confessed to police officers that she had abandoned the child.

Burrell had reportedly given birth to the child in a culvert on January 20. While on her way home from work, she started feeling labour pains and delivered the child by the side of the road. A male passer-by helped her cut the umbilical cord and reportedly gave her the jacket the child was wrapped in.

When she appeared before RM Judith Pusey, Burrell pleaded guilty to abandoning the child. She is to return to court on Monday, when she will be sentenced.