PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Friday December 15, 2017 — A doctor in Trinidad and Tobago has been charged with manslaughter in the death of a newborn baby — five months after the infant’s corpse was found in a freezer at his office.

Dr Ronald Budhooram was denied bail when he appeared in the magistrates’ court yesterday, but his attorneys later applied to the High Court and secured TT$250,000 (US$37,121) bail for their 60-year-old client.

Dr Budhooram is accused of the July 1, 2017 death of the child delivered by 22-year-old Cindy Sooknanan.

According to a release from the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service, the woman was seven months pregnant when she visited Dr Budhooram’s office on June 30 and “medicine was allegedly administered to her”.

The following day, Sooknanan began having labour pains at home and delivered the baby which was subsequently discovered dead at Dr Budhooram’s office on July 10.

Dr Budhooram, who has been in medical practice for 35 years, returns to court on January 11 next year.