A
health worker in Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State is on
the run after allegedly stealing a one-week old baby from her mother
while posing to be a well-wisher.
The suspect (name
withheld) was reported to have disappeared with the baby whom she
offered to carry while the mother’s stitches were being removed at the
clinic. The mother had been delivered of the baby through Caesarian
section a week before.
A family member said the suspect
had visited the house with new clothes for the baby and later offered to
accompany the mother who was on her way to the clinic to remove her
stitches.
The unsuspecting mother agreed to go with her and left
her child with the fleeing suspect as she went in to be attended to at
the clinic. However, the suspect had disappeared with the baby by the
time she was through.
She reportedly asked those around of
the whereabouts of the woman but no one had any useful information. She
eventually raised alarm and people joined in the search for the suspect
but she was nowhere to be found.
The theft of the baby has thrown the family and the area into despair with many describing the incident as strange in the area.
Interim
Administrator of Bokkos Local Government, Mrs. Hanatu Dantong has,
meanwhile, visited the family to sympathise with them, promising to work
with security men for the recovery of the missing baby.
According
to her, “this thing affects the whole of us. There is no way we will
sit down in office and say we don’t have anything to do with the case.
This thing is not good for our image, that is why we came immediately
the matter got to us to sympathize with the family.”
She
called for prayers towards the recovery of the baby and advised parents
to be wary of people who come around posing as friends as they might
have evil intentions.
Father of the stolen baby, Mr.
Mahana Zachariah, said it was shocking that someone would be so
heartless to steal a week old baby, adding: “I hear this type of stories
and read about them but now it has happened in my house.”
