The 19-year-old mother of the baby abandoned in a shoebox in a Cospicua alley a week ago saw her baby again yesterday afternoon for the first time since she gave birth.

The young woman was allowed to see the baby after The Times yesterday reported that the mother was yearning to hold the baby in her arms and was distraught after she was refused access when she tried to visit him in hospital on Thursday.

Both Appogg and the police are trying to establish what really led to the baby being abandoned in Cospicua.

The picture that has been painted so far shows a young woman who hid her pregnancy from everyone, including her own mother, giving birth alone at home on Sunday at 10.30 a.m.

She wrapped the baby boy in a beach towel and placed him inside a shoebox, before driving off to pick up her mother from Hamrun barely two hours later. The boy's mother was apparently waiting for nightfall to smuggle him to the nuns in Zabbar. But her plans were foiled when her 37-year-old mother discovered the shoebox in the washroom, and mistaking it for refuse, took it to Guliermu Street, just round the corner from her house, where residents regularly place their rubbish for collection.

Children passing through the street found the baby and informed the police.

The young mother wants her baby back after Appogg issued an interim care order, placing the boy in the state's custody for 21 days.

It remains to be seen whether the woman will be given custody of the child or not; this depends on a number of factors and after social and other care workers submit their reports.

It is also not clear whether any criminal action would be taken against anyone for abandoning the baby. Legal sources explained that one had to prove the intent for such charges to be pressed.