PHUKET: The mother of a newborn who deserted her daughter at a hospital on Phuket last month did so because she had been raped, it can now be revealed.

The mother told helpers that she'd already had two children with a ''bad'' husband in another province who beat her and dealt drugs.

She was raped by a policeman in another province after being arrested because some drugs had been hidden in the family car, she said.

Desperately poor, alone on Phuket and earning 280 baht a day, barely enough to subsist, the mother decided to abandon her child at Thalang Hospital on October 19.

An appeal saw mother and child reunited and the woman has now left a Phuket family refuge after successfully bonding with her daughter.

A fund set up on the mother's behalf will help her to meet expenses as she copes with life.

The search is now on for another mother who abandoned her seven-day-old child in a Phuket student's room-for-rent.

Rooming house owner Supaporn Choosawan heard a baby crying two Saturdays ago and entered the student's room to find a young boy.

The student who rented the room told Khun Supaporn that she'd had a call from an old friend who was looking for a place to stay, so she'd moved in with a close friend from university and let the old friend use the rented room.

Her friend was nicknamed Khun Saow, was aged 23 and came, like her, from Nakkorn Si Thammarat. That's as much as she was able to tell health authorities.

People who might have information about Khun Saow are asked to call 076 213315.

Meanwhile, the baby boy will be taken to a refuge in Nakkorn similar to the Phuket family refuge in the hope that the mother can be found.