CCTV footage captured the chilling moment a soldier's wife carried her newborn baby to woodland where she left him to die.
Silipa Keresi was yesterday found guilty of leaving son Maliki to die while wrapped in a towel at the foot of a tree in the New Forest.
The prosecution outlined how CCTV captured the heavily pregnant Mrs Keresi, carrying the blanket from the Fountain Court Hotel in Hythe, Hampshire – where she was living at the time – towards woodland, just before 5am on March 5, 2020.
The 38-year-old, who has four other children, had requested an abortion months before his birth but was told it was too late, a court heard.
After her arrest, she told social workers she had been feeling under pressure after her husband left the military and she was worried about her immigration status.
Prosecutors said that while she had tried to be a good mother, she had 'snapped'.
The Fijian national had denied charges of infanticide and murder but was yesterday found guilty by a unanimous jury.
Silipa Keresi (pictured) was found guilty of killing Maliki, who was found at the foot of a tree after being wrapped in a towel
Jurors were shown CCTV of Ms Keresi before the body of her newborn baby was found as she left the Fountain Court Hotel in Hythe early on March 4 last year. Ms Kerry Maylin, prosecuting, said: 'What we see is a figure with a white item over their shoulder at 04:51am. About 20 minutes later a figure walks past the farm gate with no white item over their shoulder'
Winchester Crown Court previously heard Maliki was first found by a dog walker in the woodlands near the rural town of Hythe in March last year.
Opening the case, Ms Kerry Maylin, prosecuting, said: 'On Thursday March 5 the police were contacted by a man called Michael Dorsett.
'He had found a baby wrapped in a blanket. He had been out for a walk with his dog in a woodland in Hythe, in the New Forest.
'As he walked [at about two o'clock] he saw something at the base of a tree.
'Initially he thought it was an animal but as he went to the base of the tree he saw a towel covered in blood.
'He eventually saw the face and knew it was a baby. He felt baby Maliki's cheek was cold, and there was no reaction.'
Police forensics at the scene back in March 2020 where the baby was found dead in woodlands in Hythe, near Southampton, Hampshire
The court heard Mr Dorsett returned home and called police, who he led through the forest
