Hearing for state submitted-evidence in the case implicating two individuals accused of burying their newborn child has been held.

During the hearing on Sunday, debates were held on evidence submitted against the accused, Aminath Shaahee Aalam native to Maradhoo and Ibrahim Wisam native to Maradhoo-Feydhoo.

While most of the evidence submitted by state leans towards the possibility that the prematurely born child was “still alive” when it was buried, most witnesses have testified that the newborn’s heart “was still beating”.

Testifying against the couple during Sunday’s hearing, an officer employed at Gan Police Station at the time the incident came into the spotlight revealed horrid details of the night the newborn was discovered. As such, the officer revealed that the child was found wrapped in a pink t-shirt, buried in the soil.

Further, he revealed that “it was still pulsing” when they took it and even the doctors reiterated that there was still life, when it was taken to the hospital.

The officer is to have testified that the DNA sample of the newborn matches with the two individuals charged over its murder.

Another state witness, anonymous, testified that the newborn, measuring about seven inches, was “still inside its amniotic sac” when it was discovered. The witness is to have expressed belief that there were movements as well.

“Witness one” testified to having met Wisam on the day of the incident, and that his face showed mixed signs of fear and dismay. This was after Wisam buried the newborn, and Wisam is to have told Witness one that it was aborted.

Further, witness one is to have told another person that the “child’s fingers were moving” when it was buried.

The officer who compiled the “scene of crime” report testified that the child moved upon extraction from the soil and that he had double checked just to be sure, after placing it on a “stable surface”.

He described movements seen inside the amniotic sac, reiterating his guarantee that it was alive.

Employee at Hithadhoo Regional Hospital Rizha Razeen testified that she does not remember how the incident went down. However, the state highlighted that Razeen had said the newborn’s heart was still beating and that “it was a boy”, on the day of the incident.

Charged for deliberate murder, Wisam denied having murdered the newborn and his lawyer claims that there is not evidence implicating that Wisam had murdered the baby, noting that “you can only murder a living soul”.

Further, the lawyer is to have said that although there “were movements” inside the amniotic sac, this does not confirm that it was alive.

While the child’s mother, Shaahee did not have anything to say at the hearing, Wisam’s lawyer claimed that he had not given her any medication for abortion and asserted that if it was a miscarriage, it was all on her.

While deliberations on evidence have concluded, the next hearing for summary statements will be held on 4 February and the verdict hearing is set for 27 February.

While the case surfaced in Addu City’s Maradhoo-Feydhoo district during 2012, the last hearing in the case was held on 31 December, during which statements were taken from two state witnesses.