A 30-year-old woman from Plumtree, Bulilima District, Matabeleland South Province, has been arrested for allegedly kidnapping a baby at a local hospital.
According to a ZBC News report on Wednesday, 08 May, the suspect, Anite Moyo, was nabbed after she presented a seven-day-old baby at Empandeni Clinic, claiming to have given birth at home.
The nurses became suspicious after she failed to give satisfactory answers on why she had never been to any clinic during her pregnancy.
Moyo was arrested after the mother of the child positively identified the baby and the accused.
Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) spokesperson in Matabeleland South Police, Inspector Loveness Mangena confirmed Moyo’s arrest to ZBC News.
Earlier on Tuesday, CITE’s Senzeni reported that the mother of the baby, aged 22, had gone to Plumtree Hospital for a routine check-up when she met the suspected kidnapper.
The suspect claimed to the baby’s mother that she too, had a child who was admitted at the hospital.
The grandfather of the missing baby told CITE that his daughter first met up with the accused by the gate when she was going to collect some lunch money from her grandmother. He said:
My daughter had gone to hospital with her mother (my wife) who then had to leave her at the hospital as she had to prepare for another child going to school.
My daughter then asked for lunch money from her mother who then sent someone to go and give her.
It was on my daughter’s way to fetch that money that she first met up with the accused person who asked her the age of her baby before parting ways.
When my daughter returned to the queue she found the accused also in the queue without a baby claiming her child was admitted at the hospital, and then they started chatting.
The grandfather explained that as time went by, the woman told his daughter that she was hungry and wanted bananas so she asked her to go and buy the bananas at the gate. He said:
My daughter then left this woman with the baby together with the baby’s cards. When she came back she found the woman together with the baby gone.
She told the nurses about the incident, and they searched all the wards but couldn’t locate her. They then reported the matter to the police.
In Zimbabwe, cases where individuals, including maids, have kidnapped babies or stolen them from their homes are not uncommon.
In March this year, the wife of a retired senior police officer from Gweru was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment for kidnapping an infant aged two months.
Sakhile Tanyanyiwa (34), who is the wife of former Police Commissioner Mekia Tanyanyiwa, appeared before the Gweru Magistrates Court on Tuesday, 12 March facing charges of kidnapping.
Tanyanyiwa will, however, serve an effective 12 months in prison after the court conditionally suspended 6 months for 5 years.
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