Two Kenyan woman were arrested for stealing a new-born baby from a teenage mother and changing the details on the birth notification document.
The two women, Florence Abulu, 62, and Judith Ingahitzu, 47, were on Monday morning produced before the Webuye Law Courts. At the beginning they pleaded guilty of the two counts including acts of child trafficking.
This offence can attract up to 30 years in jail or pay a fine of KES 30 million. Later in the afternoon, the suspects changed their stand with the help of an advocate.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) stated that the two were arrested on Friday 15th Oct by the detectives from the Anti-Human Trafficking and Child Protection Unit. The detectives were tipped by someone who reported the incident on DCI hotline.
“A day of scrupulous search in Matete area bore fruits when the 1st suspect (Judith) was spotted at her home lulling “her” bundle of joy
“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
“In what would lead to the unearthing of an underworld of dreaded child traffickers who preyed on voiceless young mothers, Judith’s husband revealed that he hadn’t been aware his wife was pregnant, until she appeared holding a day-old toddler that she wouldn’t breastfeed.”
“An anonymous call from a member of the public, reported of a miraculous baby boy born to a village woman who, unlike the biblical Mary mother of Jesus, was never seen carrying a pregnancy,” the statement read.
“Further, the birth notification provided by Judith had been altered using a white out, and the parents’ names entered by hand using a ball pen
“Persistent that she had been pregnant and that her ample proportions concealed it, detectives took the suspect to Webuye County Hospital for forensic medical examination, where three different tests conducted gave negative results of her having been pregnant
The suspect was forced to undergo DNA tests at different hospitals in Kisumu all of which did not tally with the allegations made by the suspected child trafficker. Judith was cornered like a terrified rat. She opened up and mentioned the name of a second suspect, her aunt Florence.
The police expanded their reach to Kikuya village in Vihiga where a 67-year old woman was arrested.
The two women were further interrogated and it was established that at the beginning of the year, Judith had made a call to Florence requesting her to her in finding her a baby.
Florence knew there was a 17-year old girl who was pregnant living with her grandmother in Kaimosi area of Vihiga. She offered to help.
Florence approached the teen mother with a job offer as a house girl in Nairobi which the minor accepted immediately. Florence warned the girl to reveal to any of her relatives that she was pregnant. She was connected to a family in Ongata Rongai. Florence instructed the girl’s employer to release the teenager as soon as she was ready to deliver a baby.
As agreed the teenage was picked by Florence 10 days before she was due for delivery. She stayed with her before she was taken to Vihiga Health Center on September 8 where Judith also came and stayed until the teenager gave birth to a baby boy.
When Judith collected the birth notification document, she altered it and disappeared with the baby as Florence beat around the bush in regards to the whereabouts of the new born.
“Threatened with dire consequences if she told anyone, the girl has had to live with the pain, until our detectives struck on Friday. Over the weekend, the girl was united with her baby boy, before the two were taken for medical care and rescued to safety,” the statement read.
Bond ruling on the case will be made on Monday 25th October.
Currently, more investigations are going on including identifying the man who impregnated the girl.
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