KEW GARDENS — A Queens Criminal Court judge sentenced a 24-year-old Woodside woman to 10 years in prison Monday for throwing her newborn daughter in a bathroom trash can in Elmhurst Hospital Center, the Queens district attorney’s office said.
Dawa Lama, who lived on 65th Street, pleaded guilty last month to manslaughter before Judge Elisa Koenderman handed down the sentence, the DA said. Lama had gone to the hospital, at 79-01 Broadway, May 10, 2011, for prenatal care and, after registering at the desk, felt a pain in her stomach, the DA said.
She went to the bathroom, where she then went into labor and delivered a baby, the DA said.
Instead of bringing the baby, later named Mingmar Gurung, to a doctor, Lama broke the umbilical cord, threw the infant in the garbage bin and took back her ID from the front desk and left, the DA said.
Because of her crime, Lama was arrested later that day, the DA said.
Mingmar was placed on life support, but died seven days later, the DA said.
“Today’s sentence brings to a close a troubling case of a mother senselessly and needlessly killing her newborn infant,” District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement. “This case should serve as a reminder that under New York’s Safe Haven law a parent may anonymously surrender an unwanted newborn infant to personnel in a safe place — such as a hospital, a police station or a fire station — without repercussions.”
