An Irish teacher detained in France in February on suspicion of involvement in the death of a newborn infant was notified yesterday that he is free to leave the country.
The 35-year-old man had stayed in a town outside Paris since he was released on bail from Grasse prison on March 6th. He is to return to Ireland today and hopes to resume teaching before examinations begin at the end of May.
French officials confirmed that the man is no longer required to check in with gendarmes. An Irish source said that all legal proceedings against him have been dropped, but the prosecutor could not be reached to confirm this. He had been placed under investigation on suspicion of failing to come to the assistance of the infant and failing to denounce a crime.
The man's companion, a 21-year-old woman who gave birth to a baby boy in a hotel on the French Riviera on February 12th, was transferred from a special detention ward in Nice's Pasteur Hospital to prison this week. She remains under investigation on suspicion of killing the child. Her parents, who have moved to Nice to be near her, will be allowed to see her for half-hour periods three times weekly.
The young woman's morale is poor, and her lawyer expressed hope that she too may be freed soon. Her contacts with an adoption agency in Luxembourg would seem to indicate that she did not intend to kill the child. A psychiatrist's report could sway Judge Thierry Laurent in her favour.
A baby boy was found wrapped in a hotel towel and plastic bag in the hotel corridor on February 12th, after the young woman delivered the baby in a public toilet four floors below the room she shared with the Irishman.
When questioned by Judge Laurent on April 3rd, she reconfirmed the Irishman was not the father of the child, that he did not know she was pregnant and was not aware of the birth. The Irishman's application to leave France was delayed for over two weeks by Easter holidays. He became so frustrated that he volunteered to return to prison to protest his innocence.
