A 24-year-old care worker who killed her newborn baby was spared jail today despite shattering the little girl's skull shortly after birth and leaving the body in a park until she was found four days later.
Babita Rai, 24, inflicted 'dreadful' injuries on her newborn baby and then 'left her for dead' next to a tree in Aldershot, Hampshire, in 2017.
She was cleared of murder by a jury following a two week trial having been hunted by police for at least three years after the baby's death before her arrest in 2020.
Jurors today heard Rai - 20 at the time - was around six months pregnant when she entered the country from Nepal but concealed it from border officials, her GP, and colleagues at a restaurant she worked at because of the 'shame' surrounding births out of wedlock in her home country.
She was convicted of infanticide in May and today - after spending more than a year in custody since her initial arrest - Rai was told she was 'free to leave' by a judge at Winchester Crown Court, Hampshire. She was ordered to undertake two years of community work and rehabilitation activity for 30 days.
The crime of infanticide was introduced in England in the 1920s to ensure women who killed their children in their first year would not be charged with murder, and therefore sentenced to death.
Babita Rai, 24, inflicted 'dreadful' injuries on her newborn baby and then 'left her for dead' next to a tree in Aldershot, Hampshire, in 2017 (pictured)
A gardener who was trimming shrubs at the edge of Manor Park in Aldershot, Hants.,(pictured) discovered the newborn baby's body in undergrowth four days after experts believe she died
It applies if the mother is found to have mental health issues must arising giving birth or a disorder from giving birth.
Rai crushed the tiny infant's skull after giving birth besides a tree and dumped her body in a park within hours of giving birth.
The 24 year old was said to have given her daughter 'deliberate' repeated blows to the head immediately after her labour, causing 'significant' and fatal fractures.
A gardener trimming shrubs at the edge of the public park made the horrific discovery in undergrowth some four days later, initially believing the dead baby's body to be a 'child's doll'.
The Honourable Mr Justice Johnson said Rai - who did not have a partner - was under 'intolerable pressure' as her Nepali family would have regarded the baby as a 'curse not a blessing'
During her trial earlier this year the court heard Rai - 20 at the time - was around six months pregnant when she entered the country from Nepal in February 2017 but concealed it from border officials, her GP, and colleagues at a restaurant she worked at.
The court heard the baby was born alive at 35 weeks gestation on the night of May 15 2017, weighing 4lbs 12oz. Her dead body was found in Manor Park in Aldershot, Hants, the town where Rai was living.
In his opening, prosecutor Adam Feest QC said: 'Within a very short time
