Woman arrested for stealing baby from Masindi Hospital

Masindi: Police in Masindi district are holding a 22-year-old woman for allegedly stealing a three-day-old baby boy from Masindi general hospital maternity ward.

The suspect identified herself as Beatrice Musiimenta, alias Nakazibwe, married to Peter Ssemakula, a hawker in Gulu City. Musiimenta says that she has been lying to her husband, whom she conceived after buying her a grass-thatched house in the suburbs of Gulu city.

Musiimenta says she decided to steal a baby because of pressure from her husband, who has a child with a second wife, but denied claims that she was going to sacrifice the baby.

Hadijah Abiriya, the baby’s mother and a resident of Kapeeka Village in Kabango Town Council in Masindi district, narrates that the suspect has been in the maternity ward since Friday last week, claiming to be the caretaker of one of the expectant mothers.

She says on Sunday at around 7:00 p.m., the suspect requested to be given the baby, but they declined until at night, when they slept, and she disappeared with the baby on Monday morning at around 3 a.m.

Abdurauman Sharif says her wife Abiriya informed him about the theft of the baby and swiftly went to Masindi town searching for the suspected baby thief.

Abdurauman says that as much as Musiimenta pretended to have a patient in the hospital, it was not true, but she was there to hatch a plan to steal their baby. He says that after tracing the baby thief in vain, police eventually arrested her from Masindi Taxi Park as she boarded to go to Kampala.

He thanked God for blessing them with a baby boy and asked God to bless all those who struggled to have their baby rescued.

Julius Allan Hakiza, the Albertine region police spokesperson, confirmed the incident, saying that the suspect is behind bars at Masindi CPS and will soon be produced to court.

‘’She was arrested boarding a taxi to Kampala, and currently we have her in our custody at Masindi Central Police Station and will soon be arraigned in courts of law.’’

This is not the first incident; on May 1, 2022, a three-day-old baby was also stolen from the same hospital by Jude Achidru, a resident of Nyabigoma village, Budongo subcounty, Masindi district.

Achidru claimed to be the closest friend of Sarah Nanjinga, the baby’s mother, before disappearing with the baby.

This prompted police to commence a manhunt for the suspect, and she was arrested in Nyabigoma village with the baby.

She told the police that she had deceived her husband into believing she was pregnant and thus stole the baby.

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