By Jonah Kimani,
A woman and her daughter believed to have stolen a three months old baby at Nairobi’s Majengo estate were yesterday arrested in Bungoma, after days of tenacious trail from Nairobi by Busia-based DCI detectives.
The two; 47-yr-old Grace Akinyi Misiani and Nelly Achieng’ Misiani, 30 were wanted in connection to a February 15 incident where another one month old infant was stolen from Marachi estate of Busia, only to be found at the house of the 1st suspect’s 21-yr-old son, Tony Rogers Ochieng.
In the latter incident, a 27-yr-old woman had at 9am left her child soundly sleeping at her Marachi house, proceeding to draw water from a nearby borehole. On returning minutes later, she had been thunderstruck to find an empty warm bed, indicating that her baby had just been stolen.
Attracted by the mother’s despondent wails, irate members of the public cornered the young man, rescuing the baby before treating him to an overdose of hot slaps and kicks as they escorted him to the police.
Commencing investigations, detectives had searched Tony’s house, therefrom confiscating a blank birth notification certificate and a payment receipt from a fictitious health facility-Comcare County Hospital.
Probing into the case, detectives established that the 2nd suspect (Nelly), a KMTC student in Bungoma, and who is married to a health worker at a Busia hospital, had months before terminated a four months pregnancy, but had let the husband believe he would soon be a father.
With the help of her mother and younger brother, the trio had stolen the baby boy in the first instance that tripped, before embarking on yet another child theft in Majengo-Nairobi.
Unknown to Nelly and her mother that the Busia team backed up by DCI’s Child Protection Unit were hot on their trail, the duo had successfully escaped with the child to Bungoma, stepping in the detectives’ snare, necks perfectly in the noose.
It has been established that the mother and daughter had been putting pressure on Nelly’s husband to send money to clear her “hospital bill” after a safe delivery, thus requiring proof to convince him.
With the two in custody, the rescued child is currently under the care of the Child Protection Unit pending identification and collection by the parents.
Meanwhile, detectives have launched investigations to establish whether a two-year-old baby girl living with Nelly and her husband was indeed born to them, after her birth notification certificate from a Busia hospital also appeared suspicious.
Further, more accomplices are being hunted down in DCI’s relentless endeavour to neutralize syndicates involved in child trafficking and sexual abuse & exploitation.
Jonah Kimani is the 29 year-old DCI Social media manager.
