Mother of newborn found dead in Richmond Row dumpster pleads guilty

An Amherstburg, Ont., woman charged after the body of her newborn baby was discovered in a dumpster near Richmond Row in London nearly two years ago has pleaded guilty in the case.

Samantha Richards, 25, pleaded guilty on May 18 to a charge of concealing the body of her child, her lawyer, Patricia Brown, told 980 CFPL Friday. Brown declined to comment further on the case.

According to the Criminal Code of Canada, the offence comes with a maximum possible sentence of two years in prison. Richards will appear in court for a sentencing hearing on July 20.

Richards had also been previously charged with neglecting to obtain assistance during childbirth, but the charge was dropped in December after the Crown determined there was no reasonable prospect of conviction, according to a report in the London Free Press.

It was on June 16, 2016, when a homeless man looking through a dumpster behind 675 Richmond St., near Richmond and Mill streets, found a black reusable shopping bag containing the body of a newborn baby.

Richard was arrested in Amherstburg two days later.

According to an agreed statement of facts, the newborn died shortly before or during childbirth on June 13. The baby, described as a “normally developed male child,” had been at or near full term, the autopsy found.

With files from Jaclyn Carbone