Kenyan police have arrested a woman and her daughter on suspicion of stealing a three-month-old baby in the country’s capital, Nairobi.
The two were arrested on Tuesday after days of being trailed, NairobiNews publication reports.
According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), Grace Akinyi Misiani, 47, and her 30-year-old daughter were wanted for allegedly stealing another one-month-old infant on February 15.
The infant was stolen from Marachi estate of Busia, and traced to a house belonging to one Tony Rogers Ochieng, 21, who is the first suspect’s son.
Ochieng was arrested after he reportedly stole the infant while the mother was fetching water.
‘A 27-yr-old woman had at 9am on the fateful day left her child sleeping at her Marachi house and proceeded to draw water from a nearby borehole. On returning minutes later, she found an empty warm bed, indicating that her baby had just been stolen,” DCI said.
The mother’s wails attracted members of the public who managed to corner the suspect and rescued the infant before they frog matched him to nearby police.
Investigations by police revealed that Akinyi who is a second-year student KMTC Bungoma and married to a health worker at a Busia hospital had earlier terminated her four-month pregnancy.
“She had let her husband believe he would soon be a father,” DCI added.
Police added that the trio had come up with a plan to steal the first infant but when it backfired they embarked on their second plan to come to Nairobi and steal another baby.
According to the police, they needed a baby so that Akiny’s husband will send them money to clear her “hospital bill” after a safe delivery, thus requiring proof to convince him.
The infant was rescued and is currently under the care of the Child Protection Unit pending identification and collection by the parents.
After the arrests, detectives recovered a blank birth notification certificate and a payment receipt from a fictitious health facility-Comcare County Hospital at Ochieng’s house.
Meanwhile, detectives have launched investigations to establish whether a two-year-old girl living with Achieng and her husband was indeed born to them after her birth certificate from a Busia hospital also appeared suspicious.
After the arrests, detectives recovered a blank birth notification certificate and a payment receipt from a fictitious health facility-Comcare County Hospital at Ochieng’s house.
Police are also looking to see if the trio worked alone or had accomplices to neutralize syndicates involved in child trafficking and sexual abuse and exploitation.
