Kaua'i woman who dumped baby agrees to plea

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau

LIHU'E, Kaua'i — A woman who stuffed her newborn son into a paper rice bag, where he was later found dead, pleaded no contest yesterday to manslaughter.

Christine Agpaoa Robles, 22, was scheduled to go on trial yesterday for second-degree murder, but was allowed to plead to the lesser charge in an agreement with prosecutors. She will be sentenced Aug. 1 by 5th Circuit Judge Clifford Nakea.

Under Hawai'i law, second-degree murder carries a mandatory life term with the possibility of parole. Manslaughter is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Robles' attorney, Alfred Castillo, said the woman has no memory of the events that led to the child's death within hours of his birth.

"It was a very hard decision for us to make" to accept conviction for manslaughter, he said.

The defense would have attempted to prove that Robles was substantially emotionally or mentally impaired at the time, Castillo said. The results of psychological examinations were not made public.

Deputy Prosecutor Craig DeCosta said that on April 30, 2001, Robles gave birth to the child, cut the umbilical cord, put the newborn into a paper rice bag and put the bag in an outdoor trash container.

Forensic pathologist Dr. Anthony Manoukian found that the baby had been born alive and apparently healthy, and died of asphyxiation.

The grand jury indictment in the case suggested two avenues of prosecution: that Robles intentionally caused the death of the child, or that she caused the death by failing to meet her legal duty to protect the child.

Neighbors found Robles bleeding severely April 30 and called for an ambulance. It was not immediately clear that she had given birth, but upon examination at the hospital, it was determined that she had. Police and an ambulance crew were sent back to the Robles family home in Koloa to search for an infant.

They found the newborn's body in the trash container. The child was posthumously named Benny Robles.