A woman in court for allegedly attempting to sell her one-month-old son for Ksh. 20,000. The prosecution alleged that the woman promoted child trafficking contrary to Section 4 (2)(3) of the counter trafficking in persons Act of 2010.
Phoebe Machesa Barasa, a mother of two, appeared in Thika law courts before senior resident magistrate Oscar Wanyaga on charges of commencing adoption processes for her son with the intent of trafficking him.
Machesa was arrested on August 2, 2023 at Allsops area in Nairobi County, where the deal was to be finalized, together with two other accused people, Francis Burimo Osiolo and Catherine Akinyi Okullo.
While Burimo and Akinyi (alleged traffickers) pleaded not guilty to the allegations, the mother told court that she only planned to deliver the baby to Burimo when she ran out of money to feed her family.
Contrary to her assertions, her husband, Sadic Wasike, informed media that Machesa planned to sell the baby to the other accused persons for Ksh. 20,000.
Wasike claimed that Machesa had already received Ksh. 9,000 as a down payment, and that the balance would be sent upon delivery of the Child.
On July 27 Machesa reportedly refused to breastfeed the baby only to mysteriously disappear the same day.
She would subsequently call Wasike and tell him that the infant had been admitted to Thika Level Five Hospital and that he should look after their other child.
After a lengthy interrogation by Wasike and friends, Machesa disclosed that she had taken the baby to Pumwani Hospital. They went to the hospital, only to find out that the child was neither present nor had been admitted.
The case will be mentioned on August 17, 2023 as the accused persons remain in Custody.
