Newborn OK after birth in dog pen
By MICHAEL MELLO
BEE STAFF WRITER
Last Updated: November 19, 2003, 07:53:32 AM PST
LIVINGSTON -- Police detectives are trying to figure out what led a woman to crawl into a neighbor's dog pen to give birth, then shove toilet paper down the newborn's throat in an apparent attempt to kill her.
And the woman's father, a migrant laborer from an indigenous tribe in Mexico, wants to know how long his deaf and mute daughter will remain in Merced County Jail, away from anyone with whom she can communicate.
The child is doing well, and after a short hospital stay, was placed in the custody of Child Protective Services, police Cmdr. Dan Shambaugh said.
The mother, Juliana Martinez Dionicio, 24, is scheduled to be arraigned in Superior Court this morning on a charge of attempted murder, Shambaugh said. She has remained in jail on $500,000 bond since being booked Sunday.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Larry Morse said the difficulty communicating with the suspect could lead to a delay today.
"We are often faced with both defendants, victims and witnesses who have disabilities, and the court is primarily responsible for making certain every effort is made to accommodate them," Morse said.
"A person has to be able to assist in his or her own defense and understand the nature of the proceedings. We will not proceed until we are satisfied those requirements are met."
Investigators say they believe the woman left her father's C Street home Friday morning and walked a block west into the secluded back yard of Jose and Maria Silveira's home.
She entered the dog pen at the rear of the back yard. She settled into a corner between the wall of a shed and a tree growing in the middle of the pen, where the tree and the splayed tendrils of a grapevine camouflage the area well.
Fright for man who found her
Maria Silveira said her husband went out to feed their dog and found Martinez Dionicio in the dog pen only when he walked right up to it.
"She scared him," Silveira said in Portuguese, describing how the sight shocked her elderly husband. "She was staring ahead, and the dog was sitting next to her. She must be sick in the head to come in here."
Police found the woman sitting against the shed with her baby -- umbilical cord still attached -- propped up on a tree root, Shambaugh said.
Merced County Fire Department engineer Michael Steineke, who treated the baby at the scene, estimated that she was born about 15 minutes before they arrived just after 11 a.m.
The baby "was very critical," Steineke said. "She was very cold to the touch" and suffering from hypothermia.
One of the first police officers on the scene noticed that the infant had some tissue in her mouth and removed it, Shambaugh said. When Steineke examined the baby, he found more.
"It was stuffed to the back of the throat wadded up tightly," he said, gesturing to show a ball about an inch in diameter. But, he said, "It seemed we saved this baby's life, and that's good."
On the dirt surface of the dog pen, Martinez Dionicio sat next to a hole that was not there before, Silveira said, making her wonder whether the woman intended to bury her child there.
Communication barriers
Shambaugh said police are continuing to investigate the incident, which has been difficult because Martinez Dionicio cannot speak or hear, does not know sign language, and cannot write in English, Spanish or Trique, the language of her people.
"She could've been out there for 20 or 30 minutes waiting for this baby to die. We don't know," he said. "She's only been here for a week or two. She was visiting from out of state. (Her) father had no idea she was pregnant."
Pedro Martinez Lopez, the girl's father, said he is preoccupied with his daughter's fate.
"It's difficult to imagine what she must be going through with the language barrier, and the food," he said in Trique, explaining that the Trique people have a very basic diet of mostly corn and don't eat sugar -- very different from the food she likely eats in jail.
The short, dark-skinned man wiped away tears as he spoke of how his daughter came down from Washington where she had worked as a field laborer.
"I can't do much for my daughter," he said. "I don't speak Spanish. I don't have a car. I don't have money."
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