Two charged after newborn found dead in wooded area remain in custody

Two people charged after a newborn baby was found dead in a wooded area outside Halifax did not seek bail Thursday in court and have agreed to remain in custody until their next hearing in a little more than three weeks. Sukhpreet Singh, 23, and wife Ramandeep Kaur, 26, were represented by lawyers in Halifax provincial court.

Singh appeared by video from a jail outside New Glasgow, N.S., while a lawyer for Kaur appeared on her behalf. The remains of the infant were found Sunday off Old Coach Road in the community of Goodwood, N.S., during a search launched after a woman who appeared to have just given birth was taken to hospital Friday.

Police have said the woman, who is a relative of Singh’s, was in critical condition.

Kaur are charged with disposing of the body of a child with the intent to conceal the fact it had been delivered, two counts of obstruction by lying, including to a police officer, and offering an indignity to a dead body. They return to court June 22.

Prosecutor Paul Carver said outside the courtroom the medical examiner’s investigation into the death of the baby has revealed some “very preliminary results,” but he declined to discuss them or indicate how the child died. ” After being told of the woman in hospital, police sought to find the baby and went to an apartment on Willett Street in the Halifax community of Clayton Park.

But no child was found despite a search in and around the apartment building. The remains of the infant were subsequently discovered in a wooded area about 10 kilometres away after police said new information they learned during interviews redirected them to a second location.