But for the alertness of a 78-year-old conser¬vancy worker, the obvious intention of an unknown mother to kill her new-born baby would have materialised . The diabolic plan, however, backfired and the baby survived thanks to the smart old man, Braimah Dagomba, who takes care of a public toilet at Effiakuma, a suburb of Sekondi. . Narrating the incident to The Mirror, Braimah, who takes care of a public toilet at U2 'compound, at Effiakuma, said at dawn on Saturday, September 13, 2008, he was going about his normal duties cleaning the toilet in preparation for the day's service. He said he first unlocked the female cubicle of the old public toilet, which was always locked up at night, and collected the waste paper which he then dumped inside an old barrel sitting outside the toilet. Braimah continued that at about 3:40 a.m., he twice heard the cry of a baby but could not locate the source. According to him, he assumed it was the cry of a new-born baby in the vicinity. Then 10 minutes later, having dumped all the waste paper from both the male and female sections of the toilet into the barrel, he proceeded to set fire to all the paper, as usual. According to him, as the paper in the barrel caught fire, he became conscious of movement within the barrel. Thinking it was a cat or some other animal, he pushed the waste paper aside only to find that something in the black polythene bag was moving. The top of the bag had been tied and it was lying inside the barrel. It dawned on Braimah that it could not be a cat as he had thought, rather a human being. According to him, he promptly put out the flames with his broom and raised an alarm that drew several neighbours to the scene. One young man, Mt Philip Prah, mustered courage and retrieved the polythene bag from the barrel and untied it, to their horror, there was a new-horn baby girl with the placenta and unsevered umbilical cord. The polythene bag containing the live baby was handed over to some sympathetic women who rushed it to a midwife living some distance away, before they proceeded to the Effiakuma police station to make a report. The midwife, Madam Doris Aidoo, who turned out to be a Traditional Birth Attendant (TBA), said when the baby was brought. to her, she immediately did the separation of the placenta to save the baby's life. She said normally as soon as a baby is born separation of the placenta must be done, since the baby's life could be endangered if there is a delay or error in the separation. She was therefore surprised that the baby survived that long without the detachment. She considered it an act of God, and has named the baby Sister Grace. Madam Aidoo said she had been instructed by the police to hand over the baby to the Department of Social Welfare. When The Mirror paid a visit to the TBA's house the day after the find, "Sister Grace" looked healthy and strong and feeding on baby food. Inspector Emmanuel Boakye Yiadom of the Effiakuma police station confirmed the incident and added that he had been directed by his boss to hand over the case to the "Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service for investigations. Source: The Mirror