Childless woman arrested on suspicion of stealing infant boy – PHOTOS
Police in Siakago, Mbeere North, are holding a 40-year-old woman who is suspected of stealing a child.
The woman was arrested by Ishiara chief after she turned up with the three-month-old baby boy in her rented house although she had not been pregnant.
Area children’s officer Jane Kinuthia said the woman claimed that she had come across the child abandoned in a saw mill in Makomboki village, Murang’a county.
NEW MUM
Ms Kinuthia said the woman, who has never had children, had even named the child John Ndegwa and had started living normally as a new mum.
She said the woman had told police officers that she was visiting her husband who works in the village when she heard the child crying and went to investigate.
The children’s office presented the child before Siakago Magistrate court as a child in need of care and protection.
It is while before the court, that the woman is said to have changed the narrative and claimed that it was the husband who came across the child and took him home.
“When the magistrate said that the child be taken to a children’s home, she immediately objected and proposed that the child be handed to her. She said she had been married for 15 years and had never had a child,” said Ms Kinuthia.
CHILD TRAFFICKING
Ms Kinuthia said they are treating the toddler as lost or a victim of child trafficking and were searching for his parents.
She appealed to people who may have lost a boy with similar characteristics to report to nearest police or call her office on 0722239467.
County Coordinator of children services Paul Kisavi advised women who want to adopt children to use legal means, and advised parents to be cautious to avoid losing their children to traffickers.
