Appleton teen Nadia Zahirudin was alone and enveloped in fear when she gave birth to her daughter at 3:40 p.m. May 9 in Buchanan, a prosecutor said Tuesday.
Though Deputy Dist. Atty. Melinda Tempelis was sympathetic to the girl's plight, she was tersely described the dire risks Zahirudin's baby faced that chilly May evening after she was left alone outside a Kimberly church less than an hour after her birth.
"That could have been horrific," she said. "Thankfully it wasn't."
Zahirudin, 17, of Appleton, was sentenced in Outagamie County Court to three years of probation on misdemeanor convictions of disorderly conduct, obstructing police and child neglect for her role in the abandonment of her newborn. She entered guilty pleas to the each of the charges as part of a plea agreement.
Judge Michael Gage withheld sentencing on a felony child abandonment charge and approved a three-year deferred prosecution agreement, which means prosecutors will dismiss the charge if Zahirudin follows through on the terms of the agreement.
Meanwhile, the baby's father, 18-year-old Benjamin LaMarche, will return to court March 13 for a plea hearing. LaMarche, of Kimberly had been scheduled to go to trial Tuesday on counts of child abandonment and child neglect charges, but the trial was taken off of the court calendar late Monday.
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Police turned their sights on Zahirudin after investigating several tips. She eventually opened up to officers about how she concealed her pregnancy and gave birth at home. She worried how her aunt and uncle, with whom she lived, would've reacted.
When LaMarche arrived 10 minutes after Zahirudin gave birth, she told him to take the baby to a hospital. He drove to St. Elizabeth Hospital in Appleton, but became scared that he'd be prosecuted for statutory rape if he turned the baby over to medical staff.