LITTLE FERRY, N.J. (AP) - A mother accused of fatally stabbing her newborn daughter in the family's northern New Jersey home has pleaded not guilty to murder charges.
Hiralbahen Bhavsar entered the plea Wednesday during her initial court appearance. But a scheduled detention hearing was postponed until May 17 because a private attorney will be taking over her case from the county's public defender's office.
Bergen County prosecutors have said the 29-year-old Little Ferry woman called 911 on April 30 and said she was having a medical emergency at her apartment.
Responding officers found several of Bhavsar's family members in the apartment, but she was inside a locked bedroom. She eventually came out, and officers then found the five-day-old child dead from what appeared to be stabbing injuries.