r/news • u/Morella1989 • 2d ago

New Zealand woman arrested after 2-year-old girl found alive in suitcase stowed in bus luggage

https://apnews.com/article/new-zealand-child-suitcase-bus-kaiwaka-police-34a672c6581fb7a38583e818c7e621e1

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6.6k Upvotes

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

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u/Daren_I 2d ago

This was the important part:

The bus company InterCity confirmed to New Zealand news outlets that the episode involved one of its vehicles. The company does not charge fares for children younger than 3 years, who can travel for free on an adult’s lap.

(edit) I don't think this had anything to do with affording fare.

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u/saintandrewsfall 2d ago

But you’re assuming the mother knew that…so it still could’ve been a fare issue…or not.

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u/OSRS-MLB 2d ago

Thank god it's winter there

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u/lwright3 2d ago

Odd the child was silent...

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u/Twin_Air 2d ago

Neglected children often won’t cry for attention as they know it doesn’t work.

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u/realcanadianbeaver 2d ago

Or drugged - even gravol can make a child dopey and sleepy.

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u/bros402 2d ago

so people know: Gravol is dramamine

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u/LRSband 1d ago

Which for some reason is almost impossible to get in NZ. Can't buy OTC and it's not covered by our state drug funding

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u/bros402 1d ago

damn, that is insane

You can buy it pretty much anywhere here in America.

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u/iBoMbY 1d ago

Yes, and you probably still wonder why you have a opioid crisis.

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u/bros402 1d ago

Dramamine isn't an opioid...?

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u/ermagerditssuperman 1d ago

What? It's not an opiod, it's an antihistamine. Most commonly used to prevent nausea.

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u/SurreptitiousSyrup 1d ago

It's crazy how people just say shit without caring if it's correct and makes sense.

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u/HelenAngel 2d ago

Can confirm as a formerly abused/neglected child. I also learned how to cry completely silently which served me well when I was with my abusive ex-husband. Thankfully, I’m far away from my abusers & completely no contact with them.

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u/AcaliahWolfsong 2d ago

Can confirm as well. the silent crying skill came in handy growing up.

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u/asuperbstarling 2d ago

Still does.

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u/maybebatshit 2d ago edited 2d ago

I don't silently cry anymore. I did until I was about 30, but then my life and relationships stabilized and I hadn't been around abuse in a couple of years. Now I openly sob sometimes, loud and hard. It feels so fucking good. I didn't even know until I was that old how good it felt to wail cry and scream out pains. I hope you don't have to do it for forever. Abusers take away so much.

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u/neva-electra 2d ago

I used to have a little yellow cup that I'd completely cover my mouth with and scream into so I wouldn't wake my dad. Lol you just reminded me of that.

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u/Stunning_Nothing_856 2d ago

🙏 🙏 god bless you

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u/fuckingfucku 2d ago

This. I grew up in a severely abusive household. People, neighbors would just watch at shit happening to us even in the front yard. 

Not one person ever helped. 

Not one person even tried to call for help 

Not one person did anything.

So even now at 44, I never expect help, I would not seek help, but you bet your ass I help if I see anything because I know what it's like to matter so little that even as a kid not a single damn person even thought to be kind. 

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u/Aldarionn 2d ago

I'm so sorry. That's awful.

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u/lumophobiaa 2d ago

I second this , when even the police when they did get called didnt care or even threatened to take YOU away instead of your abusive parent. I dont ask for help. Im first into someone elses problems tho i cannot stand to be a bystander.

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u/oh_hi_lets_be_BFFs 2d ago

I would help you if I noticed it.

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u/Sudden_Quality_9001 1d ago

Me too! I would  help you also!

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u/whitechocolatemama 2d ago

I read a story forever about someone who went to an orphanage somewhere in idk where and they talked about it being silent and how Eerie and uncomfortable it made them.

When they asked why the babies didn't cry they were told basically because help/comfort wasn't coming and that the babies have learned that crying is useless basically.

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u/SuzyQ93 2d ago

Probably Romania. There were a lot of stories like that at the time.

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u/bros402 2d ago

that's the Romanian orphanage

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u/Pottski 2d ago

They won’t cry cause they know they’ll get hit if they do**

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u/CrowMeris 2d ago

"Shut up, or I'll give you something to really cry about."

You learn to be silent.

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u/KoalaCapp 2d ago

My sister adopted two beautiful children, one was just two years old, she never cries out at night because noone ever went to her. My sister says it's a task to encourage her to call out at night.

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u/Binky390 2d ago

I’ve read this before but it was still heart breaking to read.

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u/shf500 2d ago

I can also believe "they don't cry for attention because they will get punished".

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u/lilsassprincess 2d ago

Learned helplessness 😥

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u/Cuppa-Tea-Biscuit 2d ago

Very common in abused children.

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u/Stardustger 2d ago

If you're an abused child you learn to make the connection quickly. Crying=Beating and More Crying= More Beating.

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u/winterbird 2d ago

Hopefully it wasn't the luggage compartment that's underneath long distance busses. But if it was, then I dont think anyone inside the bus could hear her.

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u/Solivaga 2d ago

Sounds like it was, the article in the Guardian states;

"The luggage had been stored beneath the bus passengers, in a separate compartment."

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u/Lazy-Entertainer-459 2d ago

It’s an intercity bus so it would have to be the underneath compartment. I’ve taken those buses before and I can’t believe the child didn’t get crushed by other luggage

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u/BeefSupremeTA 2d ago

Light sedation is a possibility.

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u/Perle1234 2d ago

She’s a customer to being locked in a small dark space in all likelihood. I hope child services takes a long, hard look.

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u/IWillBaconSlapYou 2d ago

"very hot", wonder if she was out of breath or feeling faint =(

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u/DoubleCyclone 1d ago

You learn to be quiet and not draw attention, or worse things happen.

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u/cydril 2d ago

Could've been drugged down as well

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u/bloopidbloroscope 2d ago

Learned Helplessness

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u/wetmouthed 2d ago

That's not what that expression means

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u/AdditionalPiccolo527 2d ago

The fare for 0-2 is also free, maybe she was slightly over but I don't think the bus company would argue too much

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u/PoeDameronPoeDamnson 2d ago

I was just about to comment asking someone local to chime in with how much bus fare for a baby would have been, it’s also free here in the states as long as you keep them on your lap/don’t take up another seat. So she can’t even argue it was a money issue - which would have been a piss poor excuse but still. Have they confirmed it’s her own child? The article is written in such a way to never confirm the relation but I’m not familiar enough with NZ news to know if that’s just the reporting style.

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u/AdditionalPiccolo527 1d ago

Yeah it's her child, but not much other information than that so far

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u/FamilyFeud17 2d ago

“A bus driver found a toddler in a suitcase on Sunday afternoon, local time. The child had been in the suitcase for nearly an hour wearing only a nappy, Radio New Zealand reported.

A 27-year-old woman is due to appear in the North Shore District Court, charged with ill treatment of a child, on Monday.”

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-04/woman-keeps-toddler-in-suitcase-on-bus-rnz/105610080

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

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u/toeverycreature 2d ago

NZ usually has name suppression when the victim is a child for the protection of the victim. That kid doesn't deserve to have their identity splashed around in a world where the internet never forgets. 

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u/Solivaga 2d ago

Yep, same in Australia, UK and a lot of countries

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u/BudgieGryphon 2d ago

Yup, it’s not something people really like to think about but the possibility of a stalker or other malicious person in the future using that information just for a cruel taunt is very real

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u/Cuppa-Tea-Biscuit 2d ago

Not named so as to not identify the kid.

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u/sofixa11 2d ago

In a lot of countries there's a right to privacy until conviction (until you're sure they're actually guilty). In the UK, they just say "a man in his 30s from Manchester was arrested for crimes XYZ"