Malaysian student who hid newborn baby in cereal box sentenced to life imprisonment for murder in UK
Teo Jia Xin's newborn child was discovered dead by the police two days later.
Malaysian student Jia Xin Teo was sentenced to life imprisonment on Oct 25, 2024 for murdering her newborn baby. (Photo: Crown Prosecution Service)
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SINGAPORE: A Malaysian university student who killed her newborn child was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday (Oct 25), a day after she was found guilty of murder.
Teo Jia Xin, 22, placed the baby in a cereal box shortly after giving birth on Mar 4. The box was put in a sealable plastic bag which Teo concealed in a suitcase.
Police discovered the body two days later.
“Baby Teo was alive after birth and could have survived but Jia Xin Teo made the decision to place her inside a cereal box knowing that it would kill her," said James Leslie Francis of the Crown Prosecution Service.
Teo was convicted at Warwick Crown Court of one count of murder on Thursday.
In an updated statement, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) on Friday said Teo was sentenced to life imprisonment, and will serve a minimum of 17 years.
According to Malaysian media, West Midlands police were called to Teo's residence two days after she visited a hospital showing signs of having given birth.
Hospital staff asked if she had recently delivered a baby, but Teo denied this.
She admitted to giving birth under police questioning.
According to the CPS, Teo hid her pregnancy from everyone she knew and arrived in the UK knowing she would likely give birth there.
This was reportedly because she was afraid it would affect her studies, said the New Straits Times.
Teo denied murdering her baby, a girl, and said she had been hearing voices telling her to kill the child. This defence was rejected by the jury.
