Teen admits stealing baby

2008-08-14 08:03

Thabisile Khoza

Barberton - An 18-year-old girl has confessed to police that she posed as a doctor and stole a newborn baby boy from his mother's arms at the Barberton hospital.

The little boy died on Sunday, however, after living only five days. He was exhumed from a shallow grave in her parents' yard in Mjindini outside Barberton on Monday.

"The suspect said the baby died a natural death," said Barberton police spokesperson Captain Simanga Ncongwane.

The teenager told police that she stole the baby because her own baby had died shortly after birth at the same hospital last month.

Police received a tip-off from the girl's neighbours who heard about the kidnapping on radio and saw the teenager with the baby.

But by the time police arrived on Monday, the baby had died and had been buried.

The teenager was arrested the following day and will appear in the Barberton magistrate's court on Thursday on charges of kidnapping.

"The case may be changed to murder if the post-mortem results reveal that the baby was murdered," said Ncongwane.

Ncongwane said police were also considering charging the teenager's parents as accomplices.

The baby was stolen from a maternity ward on August 6 at around 02:00, shortly after being born.

Mpumalanga health and social development spokesperson Mpho Gabashane said on Wednesday that the department was still investigating the matter.

"We are investigating whether there was adequate security or human error in this matter," he said.

- African Eye