Third Mama Lucy hospital medic set free in child trafficking case – VIDEO
A former top medic at Mama Lucy Kibaki hospital in Nairobi has been let off the hook following a child trafficking syndicate that had rocked the facility last year.
Director of public of prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji dropped the child trafficking charges against Dr Musa Mohammed Ramadhan then converted him to a state witness.
Dr Ramadhan becomes the third medic from Mama Lucy to be cleared after CEO Dr Emma Mutio and administrative officer Dr Regina Musembi, who were freed in November last year.
“I have been instructed to terminate the case against Dr Ramadhan. There is no evidence linking the accused to the child trafficking syindicate,” state prosecutor Ms Evalyn Onunga told Milimani law court’s senior principal magistrate Ms Esther Kimilu.
Ms Onunga said the accused who had been charged alongside two social workers, Makalla Fred Leparan and Selina Adunda Awuor, will be a state witness in the case.
“There being no evidence to link the accused with the human trafficking syndicate, I allow the DPP’s plea and terminate the case against him,” Ms Kimilu ruled.
The magistrate also directed that the cash bail deposited by the accused be refunded to him.
Defence lawyer Prof Hassan Nandwa did not object to the DPP’s request to drop the case against the deputy director for curative and rehabilitate services at the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS).
“We will not sue the state for malicious prosecution,” Prof Nandwa told the Nation in an interview after the acquittal.
“I have forgiven those who had framed me,” Dr Ramadhan said as he knelt down in prayer.
Social workers Mr Leparan and Ms Awuor have denied charges of trafficking children aged between six days and two months on diverse dates between March 1 and November 16, 2020.
Ms Awuor has been charged with neglecting her duty by failing to prevent Leparan from reportedly trafficking babies out of Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital between April 30 and May 12, 2020.
The two were charged following an investigative exposé by BBC Africa Eye on a syndicate trafficking and selling children in Kenya.
According to the BBC Africa Eye exposé, a gang of organised criminals had been stealing children from homeless mothers and selling them for as little as Sh45,000.
The hearing continues.