Hythe baby death: Silipa Keresi found guilty

Silipa Keresi gave evidence at her trial at Winchester Crown Court

A mother who left her newborn baby for dead in woodland has been been found guilty of murder.

Maliki Keresi's body was discovered close to Shore Road in Hythe, near Southampton, in March 2020.

A post-mortem examination found the cause of death was "omission of care".

A trial at Winchester Crown Court, heard his mother Silipa Keresi, 38, had wanted an abortion but was over the time limit when she inquired in November 2019.

Maliki's body was found in dense woodland wrapped in a bloodstained bath towel by a dog walker on the afternoon of 5 March 2020.

The body of the newborn boy was found close to Shore Road in March 2020

Keresi told the court she was "stressed and depressed" when she found out she was 26 weeks pregnant in November 2019 and she did not tell her husband.

"I felt my life was just chaos," she said.

The court heard Mr Keresi, a Commonwealth soldier, had left the British Army in 2017.

The family lost their right to stay in the UK, was receiving no social security benefits, had lost their military housing and were living in a small hotel room by the end of 2019.

Silipa Keresi had claimed she was being subjected to domestic violence.

Prosecutors said she had "not engaged" with medical and social services in the subsequent months.

The court heard how her GP and the community midwife services made "numerous attempts" to contact her at home and by phone and she had not attended an ante-natal appointment agreed with her.

Tests showed he had suffered severe hypothermia and died within 24 hours of birth, consistent with being abandoned, the court was told, a post-mortem examination found the cause of death to be "omission of care".

Keresi has been remanded into custody and will be sentenced at Winchester Crown Court at a later date.

Earlier in the trial, jurors were shown CCTV footage of Mrs Keresi leaving the Fountain Court Hotel in Hythe early on 4 March 2020