Franklin County prosecutor: mother, daughter admitted to disposing of healthy newborn baby
A Hilliard woman admitted her newborn brother was crying from inside a trash bag when she helped her mother dispose of it on Sept. 20, according to the Franklin County Prosecutor's Office.
Alkelezli Basma Abdul Karim, 36, and her daughter, Hanan Ahmad Al Jabouli, 19, appeared in Franklin County Common Pleas Court Friday via a video link from the county jail to face charges including aggravated murder and abuse of a corpse for placing the mother's newborn in a trash bag in a vehicle trunk.
Both women entered not guilty pleas.
Magistrate Mark Petrucci set Karim's bond at $2 million and Al Jabouli's bond at $1 million.
Assistant Franklin County Prosecutor Cory Helffrich said that Hilliard police responded Sept. 20 to a call for medical help at a home in the 4000 block of Paxton Drive South with paramedics from Norwich Township Fire Department, who transported Karim. Medics discovered Karim had recently given birth, and police returned to the home to search for the newborn, Helffrich said.
Officers discovered the baby in the trunk of a vehicle and rushed him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Helffrich said. The coroner's office ultimately determined the baby had been born healthy before it was killed, according to Helffrich.
Karim admitted to officers she had been pregnant, Helffrich said.
"She stated that they were moving homes and the baby would have been more expenses," Helffrich said.
Karim told officers that she did not look at the baby and placed him in the trash bag within seconds of giving birth, according to Helffrich.
Al Jabouli admitted to helping her mother put the trash bag in a five-gallon bucket and placing that in a vehicle trunk outside, Helffrich said.
"(Al Jabouli) admitted she could still hear the baby crying from inside the trash bag," Helffrich said.
A Franklin County grand jury indicted the women on Sept. 29.
Karim is charged with aggravated murder, murder, involuntary manslaughter, strangulation, two counts of endangering children, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse.
Al Jabouli is charged with aggravated murder, murder, strangulation, endangering children, tampering with evidence, abuse of a corpse and obstructing justice.
Gregory Hoover, an attorney with the Franklin County Public Defender's Office, said in court that Al Jabouli was enrolled at Columbus State Community College in its nursing program.
A half-dozen family members of the mother and daughter were present in the courtroom gallery, but declined to speak with news media afterward.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Hilliard mother daughter arraigned, accused of murdering newborn baby
