Two women were arraigned at the Webuye Law Courts for allegedly stealing a new born baby boy belonging to a 17-year old girl.
The suspects are said to have executed the child theft plan when baby’s mother was fighting for her life in hospital.
The two, 47-year old Judith Ingahitzu, and her 62-year old aunt Florence Musimbe Abalu, were charged with two counts including Acts that Promote Child Trafficking on Monday.
The suspects initially pleaded guilty to the charges but later changed their pleas through a lawyer.
The suspects were arrested by detectives following a tip off that a woman who has never been seen pregnant was now having a new born baby.
Detectives were dispatched at Matete area in Kakamega on October 14 whereby they arrested Judith who is a mother of four older children.
Judith’s husband told detectives that he was not aware that his wife was pregnant.
“The mother of four older children could hardly stand the presence of her unwelcome visitors, but her husband, with whom she has had no child over their marriage period, invited the detectives’ probe into the case,” a statement by DCI read.
Judith provided the birth notification which had been altered using a whiteout and the parents names written with a biro pen.
She taken to a hospital where it was confirmed that she had not given birth and her DNA test did not match with that of the baby.
The suspect was forced to reveal the identity of her accomplice in the child theft case since she had been cornered.
Detectives proceeded to Kikuya village in Vihiga, where the 67-year-old was also arrested.
Upon interrogation, it was established that Judith had sought her aunt’s assistance in getting a baby.
“Thorough interrogations on the duo established that Judith had called Florence earlier in the year, asking her to find ways of getting her a baby,” DCI said.
Aware of the girl’s pregnancy, Florence came up with a plan to ensure that they steal her baby once she delivers.
“Florence, who was privy to a case of an expectant 17-year-old girl living with her grandmother at Vihiga’s Kaimosi area, offered to help. She (Florence) had then approached the girl with a job offer as a househelp in Nairobi, which the helpless minor accepted at once,” DCIÂ stated.
Florence is said to have connected the girl with a family in Ongata Rongai while directing them to release her back to her as soon as she was due for labor. She instructed the girl not to inform her relatives that she was expecting.
“As agreed, the orphan girl had been picked by Florence 10 days to her delivery date, who stayed with her for the period before taking her to Vihiga Health Centre on Sept 8 where Judith appeared, tendering her till she gave birth to a baby boy,” DCI said.
After birth, Judith disappeared with the baby as her aunt took the girl in circles about the whereabouts of the born child.
“Threatened with dire consequences if she told anyone, the girl has had to live with the pain, until our detectives struck on Friday,” DCI said.
The girl was reunited with her baby over the weekend as detectives seek to discover the man behind her pregnancy.
The two suspects face a jail term of 30 years if found guilty.
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