Have people heard about this one?
Story Of Baby's Amazing Fall Takes On A Dark Side
Updated 4:58 PM
ET September 28, 1999
VANCOUVER (Reuters) - What seemed at first like an uplifting tale of a
baby surviving more than a
120-foot fall has taken on more sinister overtones with a criminal
probe into whether the girl slipped from
her mother's grasp or was purposely dropped.
The 18-month-old girl, who suffered only minor injuries in the
September 22 plunge, was with relatives
Tuesday as police investigate mother Nadia Hama's claim that she
accidentally lost her grip on the child
while walking on a suspension bridge at a popular tourist site in
North Vancouver.
No charges have been filed and Hama, 38, has denied any wrong-doing.
The baby, Kaya, and Hama's
five-year-old son have been taken out of her direct care by provincial
authorities.
"We're going to continue to speak to witnesses and move along from
there," said Constable Heidi
Hoffman of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. There were at least 20
other people on the bridge at the
time of the incident.
Initial reports of the accident outlined a story of an apparent
miracle. Naya tumbled from the Capilano
Suspension Bridge, a narrow pedestrian walkway, onto a rock ledge
121.5 feet (45 meters) below.
The girl's fall was apparently broken by soft limbs in the forest
along the river spanned by the bridge --
which is visited by 800,000 people annually -- and her landing
buffered by her relative lack of muscle
mass, rescue officials said.
"There was just disbelief that somebody survived that kind of fall,"
Terry Abrams of the North Vancouver
fire department told reporters the day after the recovery - which
required lowering rescuers from the bridge.
But soon the story took on a dark side.
Hama, who lives in the Vancouver area, was questioned by police for
nearly 24 hours, and authorities
released two pictures taken by a tourist. In one, Hama is seen
clutching Naya. In the other her arm is
slightly extended and the baby is gone.
Initial reports said Hama described losing her grip on Naya when she
herself slipped on the long but
narrow bridge. The girl apparently went over the bridge railing, which
are just above waist-height to the
average adult.
Court documents then emerged outlining a bitter legal battle between
Hama and her estranged husband,
Kjeld Werbes. In one Hama complained she was having difficulty caring
for Naya, who suffers from mild
Downs syndrome.
Heightening the mystery Monday was police acknowledgment that they
were initially alerted to the incident
by Werbes, who was not at the scene when the baby fell but had
apparently received a phone call about it.
Police have refused to say who alerted Werbes.
Rescue crews received at least one other emergency call about the baby
after Werbes' alert, but declined to
Tuesday to say if Hama was among those who called.
Hama has refused to discuss the incident with reporters, but her
attorney has accused the police of mental
torture for detaining Hama after the incident and not allowing her to
see the child.
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