A 22-year-old woman was devastated after her seven-day-old baby was kidnapped Monday at Plumtree Hospital by a stranger she met while going for a routine checkup. The police confirmed.
The accused is a woman who claimed to the child’s mother that she had also given birth to a child who had been admitted to the hospital.
The name of the affected mother has been withheld while investigations continue.
In an interview with CITE, Matabeleland South Provincial Police spokesperson, Inspector Loveness Mangena, confirmed the sad incident.
“On May 6, 2024, at approximately 2 p.m., the complainant went with her seven-day-old baby to Plumtree Hospital for routine check-ups. The district spokesperson said she had met the unidentified woman and suspected the accused could be around 26 years old.
“The mother said that the description of the woman is that she (appears) clean, dark-skinned, and about 1.6 meters tall. “The woman was wearing a green shirt and a pink skirt,” she said.
Inspector Mangena said the two had a conversation and the accused claimed that she also had a child who was admitted to Plumtree Hospital.
“Then she asked the complainant to buy her some bananas and some soft drinks at the hospital gate, so the complainant went to buy, and left the child in the custody of this accused. When she returned, this accused was not found anywhere.”
Inspector Mangena said the accused was being sought for kidnapping.
She added: “We call on members, whoever has information that could lead to the arrest of this person, to go to the nearest police station.”
In an interview with CITE, the grandfather of the missing child said that his daughter first met the accused at the gate when she was going to collect some lunch money from her grandmother.
“My daughter went to the hospital with her mother (my wife) who then had to leave her at the hospital as she had to prepare for another child to go to school. My daughter then asked for lunch money from her mother. Then he sent someone to go and give it to her. My daughter was on her way,” the grandfather said. To bring this money, she met for the first time with the accused, who asked her how old her child was before they separated.”
“When my daughter returned to the queue, she found the accused also in the queue without a child claiming that her child had been hospitalised, then they started chatting.”
The grandfather said, as time passed, the woman told his daughter that she was hungry and wanted bananas, so she sent my daughter to the gate to buy them.
“Then my daughter left this woman with the child along with the child’s cards. When she came back, she found the woman had gone with the child,” the grandfather said.
“I told the nurses about the incident, and they searched all the departments but were unable to locate it. They then reported the matter to the police.” Site
