Nairobi, KENYA, Nov, 18 – Three people among them the Chief executive officer (CEO) Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital Emma Mutio, administrative officer Regina Musembi and clinical social worker Makallah Fred Leparan were Wednesday afternoon arraigned at the Milimani law courts following an investigative exposé by British Broadcaster, BBC Africa Eye on a syndicate trafficking and selling children in Kenya.
The shocking investigative was titled, “The baby Stealers.”
The three who were presented before principal magistrate Benard Ochoi did not plead to any charges as a probe by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on the matter is ongoing.
Lead detective Wanga Masaki sought orders from the court to detain the suspects for at least 10 days to conclude the investigations.
“Your honour preliminary investigations show they aided Leparan, the social worker in the commission of the crime,” the detective said.
During the submissions, the court was informed that according to a footage from The BBC Africa Eye, recorded by secret cameras, Leparan could clearly be seen negotiating the selling price of babies at the Mama Lucy hospital.
“The respondent is seen receiving a substantial sum of money after handing over three children to the Journalist. The three Children were later found at Imani Rehabilitation Agency,” detective Masaki said.
According to the BBC Africa Eye exposé, a gang of organized criminals have been stealing children from homeless mothers and selling them for as little as Sh45,000.
It also exposed how new born babies are offered for sale in illegal clinics scattered all over the city, a worrying trend that is also in public hospitals.
In the past 3 years, Missing Child Kenya, a non-governmental organization, has recorded 600 cases of child trafficking in the country.
According to the BBC Africa documentary, “vulnerable women are being preyed on in Nairobi to feed a thriving black market for babies.”
The suspects through their lawyer Danstan Omari opposed the detention, saying Mutio, the CEO, of Mama Lucy, joined the health facility just 10 days ago from Mbagathi Hospital.
“She is an accomplished doctor and is well known. She cannot be a flight risk,” the lawyer argued.
According to the lawyer, “no evidence has been presented before the court to prove that if the suspects are released on bail, they will interfere with witnesses since the courts had not been informed who the said witnesses are.”
The sleuths however in their defence argued that, “the respondents hold crucial information and have the potential of interfering with the investigation if released on bond. Their fixed places of operation are not known to the DCI and therefore they are potential flight risks if released before the investigations are completed.”
Lawyer omari said that if the state is to conduct DNA tests on the recovered children, the process would entirely be outside the control of the suspects since the laboratories being used operate independently and thus they can not possibly interfere with the process.
Magistrate Ochoi is expected to rule on whether the suspects will be detained for 10 days on Thursday.
The suspects were meanwhile remanded at Kileleshwa police station.
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