By Belinda Nolan
POLICE officers have seen their fair share of action at the Sunshine Police Station, but now they can add a birth to their list of unusual incidents.
Police on duty were stunned when a 22-year-old woman went into labour and gave birth in the station’s custody centre last Tuesday.
The woman, who was about eight and a half months pregnant, was being held in the cells while awaiting a court appearance for drug offences at the Sunshine Magistrates’ Court which had been scheduled for that day.
She had previously been on remand at Deer Park’s Dame Phyllis Frost women’s prison.
When the woman complained of stomach cramps, a custody centre nurse found she was going into labour.
Police officers called an ambulance but paramedics proved too slow for the impatient baby.
As paramedics attempted to wheel her out of the station, the woman gave birth to a baby boy in the custody centre corridor.
Sergeant Guy Irvine, who was on duty at the time, said the birth had taken police by surprise.
“I don’t think anything shocks you at Sunshine Police Station but this was certainly unexpected,” Sgt Irvine said.
“The woman was due to appear in court that day but obviously she didn’t quite make it.”
The woman was taken to Sunshine Hospital, where she was granted bail during a bedside hearing.
But the new mum was returned to the station’s cells on Wednesday, after she breached the conditions of her bail.
The baby is being cared for at the hospital until Department of Human Services staff can assess the situation.
