Aug. 4 (UPI) — Authorities in New Zealand have arrested a 27-year-old woman after a 2-year-old girl was found stuffed into a suitcase on a bus.
The unidentified woman has been charged with ill-treatment or neglect of a child and was scheduled to appear in court on Monday.
She was arrested on Sunday after police were called at about 12:50 a.m. local time when a passenger bus arrived at a planned stop in Kaiwaka, about 60 miles north of Auckland, and the driver noticed a bag moving in the luggage compartment.
“When the driver opened the suitcase, they discovered the 2-year-old girl,” Detective Inspector Simon Harrison said in a statement.
“The little girl was reported to be very hot, but otherwise appeared physically unharmed.”
The child has since been transported to a hospital where she remains, undergoing what authorities called an extensive medical assessment.
Authorities did not state the relationship between the woman and the child.
“We would like to acknowledge and commend the bus driver, who noticed something wasn’t right and took immediate action, preventing what could have been a far worse outcome,” Harrison said.
Oranga Tamariki, New Zealand’s Ministry for Children, has been notified.