Police in Nairobi on Wednesday arrested a nurse in another case of illegal pseudo pregnancy detected at Pumwani Maternity Hospital.
The suspect identified as Sheila Adhiambo, Aluoch 26, is said to have attempted to steal unsuspecting Phoebe Achieng’s, newborn baby.
The mother of the baby aged 24 is also set to be put under police custody for possible charges of conspiracy to sell her own newborn.
Adhiambo is a nurse by profession who lives in Fedha Estate in Embakasi while Achieng lives at Mukuru Kwa Njenga slums and survives on menial jobs.
A report shared by K24 on YouTube indicates that the mother had confided in the suspect that she wanted to abort the pregnancy because she did not want the baby and then she convinced her to give birth then ‘she will take care of the rest’.
She told the lady that the baby would be offered to a children's home for care after three months.
Adhiambo had since been lying to her boyfriend that she was pregnant. The pregnant mother allegedly took Achieng to Pumwani Hospital when the baby was due, registered her under her own name and left.
She delivered a 2kg baby boy through caesarean section but nurses at the hospital suspected something was amiss when Achieng did not respond to the name Sheila Adhaimbo Aluoch when called several times.
Pumwani Maternity Hospital medical superintendent Leonard Okoko told the press that they noticed this when Achieng’s husband came to ask for his wife who was admitted at ward four, bed eight.
“The name he asked for was not corresponding to any of the names we had in our register. This is a surprise and it looked a well-orchestrated deal. Even if one was genius you couldn’t know the plan,” Okoko said.
The hospital alerted the police who arrested the suspect who is being held at Shauri Moyo Police Station.
Area DCIO Kiamba Rukunga said that they have launched investigations and once complete the suspect will be arraigned in court.
“It’s still early to pre-empt possible charges. Let’s wait until we complete our probe,” Rukunga said in the YouTube video.
The hospital's administrator Geoffrey Mosiria said they are keen on such theft cases and are working closely with police to avert any such thefts.