Baby Born in S.Africa Court

A South African magistrate found herself swapping her robe and gavel for a pair of cleaners gloves, as she helped volunteers with the birth of a baby in a courtroom toilet.

Acting senior magistrate Pearl Andrews on Tuesday said she was among those crammed in to a bathroom stall giving a hand to the surprised mother and her newborn at Cape Town's Wynberg magistrates' court on Monday.

Andrews helped remove the mother's shoes and soiled clothes so that she could move a little bit in the tight space, and the newly arrived baby could be brought forward before paramedics arrived.

"I just assisted to help the mom and the baby and the two ladies that were with her just to make her comfortable because they were in such a tight situation, excuse the pun," she told Agence France Presse.

"She didn't look as if she could stand that way any longer and we needed to make her and the baby a little bit more safe and obviously keep the baby warm and I just had to assist," she added.

"I got my hands dirty as it were to make sure that the little baby was ok."