Woman Who Left Two Week Old Baby In Hostel Before Flying To Germany 'Reluctant' To Return To Ireland

Gardai have today confirmed that a two-week old baby was left in a room of a Dublin hostel on Saturday.

Left by a woman who three hours later flew to Germany, a gardai spokesman said: “Gardaí in Store Street were contacted by a hostel on Gardiner Street at approximately 8am on the 14th of April after staff found a baby boy (approximately two weeks old) in a room.”

The woman believed to be the infant’s mother boarded a flight to Frankfurt, Germany some 3 hours after the baby had been found. Police in Germany have made contact with her but it is understood she is reluctant to return to Dublin.

The woman’s parents are now making arrangements to travel to Dublin to collect the baby.

Goran Josifov, a receptionist at the guesthouse who began his shift on Saturday at 8am, explained how he had given a list of the empty rooms to the cleaner. Within a few minute the cleaner returned to the reception saying could hear a baby crying in what was meant to be an empty room.

“So I went with her and we opened the door and there was a very small baby, lying in the middle of the double bed,” Josifov said.

“I thought I had to call the Garda. At first I thought maybe the woman would come back but then I thought, ‘No, even if she does, she shouldn’t have left a baby alone for three hours’.”

The woman in her 20’s had checked into the guesthouse on Friday evening and checked out at 5:20am on Saturday.

Mr Josifov said the woman appeared “very calm, not panicked” as she waited for about 10 minutes for a taxi on Saturday morning.

He said he had contacted the taxi driver, who had told him that the woman asked to be brought first to a hostel on nearby North Great George’s Street, where she picked up “one huge suitcase”, before travelling on to Dublin airport.

“She said she was catching a Lufthansa flight at 7am, though when I looked at the website the only Lufthansa flights were at 6.30am and 11am.”

“The baby was alone from about 5.20am until 8.20am. I think he must have been crying because he would have been hungry by then. He wasn’t cold. The room was very warm when we went into it.”

(H)