Police have arrested four women and a male doctor in connection with the theft of a baby from a new mother at Bungoma County Referral Hospital.
According to a police report, the incident was reported to the police by a Chepyuk resident, Mercy Chebet Sabaot, who gave birth to twins, a baby boy and a baby girl, via caesarian section at Bungoma County Referral Hospital on December 5, 2022.
Chebet reported that she was only handed over the baby girl and asked where the other baby was since an ultrasound performed during her prenatal clinic revealed that she was carrying twins.
“…that on December 5, 2022, she (Mercy Chebet) was admitted at Bungoma County Referral hospital maternity ward where she gave birth to twins (baby boy and baby girl) through caesarian however she was only handed over one baby girl. She questioned the where about of the other baby since during pre-natal clinics, an ultrasound was done, and it showed that she was carrying twins,” the police report reads in part.
According to a police statement, Chebet claimed the doctor attending to her dismissed her concerns and insisted that she only had one child.
The medic would go ahead to withdraw all documents related to her pregnancy.
In response to the report, the Bungoma South DCI team launched an investigation and found Joseline Nakhumincha Simiyu in possession of the stolen baby at Bungoma Township, just three kilometres south of the police station.
Simiyu was in the company of Irene Atieno, Robai Nanyama Namiti, Rodah Namiti and doctor Joseph Owola, the proprietor of JOE Medical Clinics, who were all arrested.
All five individuals are currently detained and will be arraigned on Monday, February 13 to answer charges of child trafficking.
Police also asked the Bungoma County Referral Hospital management to record statements explaining how the child went missing.
