Two busted selling 4-year-old boy charged with child theft
James Otieno and Teresia Moraa at the Makadara Law Courts.
Two people who allegedly attempted to sell a four-year-old child in Kayole, Nairobi before they were busted by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers posing as potential buyers have been charged with stealing a child.
Teresia Moraa is suspected to have stolen the boy outside his mother’s house in Kayole, and James Otieno is accused of helping her to find a buyer on August 13.
They were arrested at the Shujaa Mall in Kayole by DCI officers who approached them pretending they wanted to buy the child, after receiving intelligence regarding the sale.
A detective had negotiated a price of Sh100,000 and the suspects had allegedly agreed to offer the child for the money.
The child was playing outside their house when he was stolen. His mother had come out and asked her child’s friend who told her that he had seen a woman walking away with the boy. The mother remembered seeing Ms Moraa outside their gate earlier.
She informed her relatives and neighbours before reporting the matter to the police where she was told to file a missing person report after 24 hours.
A day after, she returned to the station at around 10am to report a missing person and was informed that there was a boy who had been rescued from two people who were trying to sell him.
She identified the child as hers and recorded a statement with the DCI over the matter.
Ms Moraa and Mr Otieno denied the charges before Senior Principal Magistrate Gerald Mutiso of the Makadara Law Courts.
They were released on a bond of Sh200,000 with one surety of a similar amount without an option of a cash bail. The case will be mentioned on August 22 for a pre-trial.
An area resident who saw Ms Moraa in the estate with the child just before she was arrested is listed as witness in the case alongside the child’s mother and the DCI officers who rescued the boy.
