A Makadara court in Nairobi has remanded an employer for seven days in police cells pending investigations into a case where she is accused of stealing her house-help’s three-day-old baby.
Alice Nyamwita Mokaya has been accused of stealing the baby with the help of her accomplices, Gladys Chepkemoi, Jacinta Mueni, Teresia Mutuku and Rose Wayua who are also in police custody.
The investigating officer Beth Kamande yesterday asked Senior Resident Magistrate Steven Jalang’o to remand the accused at Embakasi Police Station saying she needed more time to visit Mama Lucy Hospital where the child was born.
She said failure to remand the five suspects who were arrested on Friday, they will harass the complainant who is a minor and who has already started receiving threats.
“I need to get birth documents from the hospital and find a safe place for the complainant, who is a minor.
I need time to look for a safe place to take the complainant and her baby because of the threats from the suspects’ relatives,” she said according to the Standard.
Police reports indicate Mokaya employed the Uganda minor aged 17 years last year and she was pregnant at the time.
She later took her to Mama Lucy Hospital to deliver and three days later, her employer asked her to give her the baby for “safe keeping” and promised she would pick up her baby once she was of age.
“I was hesitant but she took my child and gave me Sh1,500 to buy anything I wanted,” the minor told police.
Mokaya is alleged to have sold the baby to Mueni-one of her accomplices for Sh25, 000. The baby was later taken to Makueni County after the sale was done and sealed.
The case is set for mentioning on March 15.