A female customer who disappeared with a trader’s four-month-old baby boy while pretending to help the trader carry the child has been sentenced by a court after her arrest by men of the Enugu State Police Command.
The command secured the conviction of the lady, Rejoice Odoh, aged 23 years, for conspiracy and child stealing as the Enugu Magistrates’ Court sentenced her to two concurrent three-year prison terms.
She was earlier arrested for stealing the baby boy at Oye-Emene Market, Emene, Enugu, on October 20 around 9:00 a.m.
According to the command, the convict posed as a customer at the shop of the child’s mother, took the baby under the guise of helping her to carry him while going to buy an item from a nearby shop, but absconded with him.
She was said to have switched off her phone after disappearing with the child and later conspired with her younger sister, who is currently at large, to present the baby to their family members as her own.
Acting on the report received from the baby’s mother and other market men and women as well as technical intelligence gathered, detectives of the State Intelligence Department, working with personnel of Amechi-Idodo Police Division and members of the Neighbourhood Watch Group, arrested the lady and recovered the baby at Idume, Amankanu, Nkanu East Local Government Area of the state on October 24. The child was subsequently reunited with his parents.
Upon conclusion of the investigation, the lady was arraigned before the Enugu Magistrates’ Court and after pleading guilty, she was convicted on October 29 and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for conspiracy and another three years for child stealing, with both sentences to run concurrently.
