A mother's pain: How my nine-month-old baby went missing from a daycare centre
Ms Martha Wambui speaking during an interview at their home in Hilton estate, Nakuru County.
It has been a tormenting one year for a family in Hilton estate, in Nakuru West constituency, in Nakuru City, after their nine-month-old baby went missing from a daycare centre.
On April 15, 2022, Ms Martha Wambui, 24, took her second born son to a daycare for the first time, left him for the day, but in the evening, the baby was missing.
But what happened?
According to Wambui, a woman who operates a clinic in Kaptembwa, Nakuru West constituency, had helped her find a babysitter, whom she paid Sh100 a day.
Ms Wambui was urgently in need of the services, since she had secured a job as a casual labourer in the neighborhood.
“I had secured employment as a casual labourer in a company in the neighborhood so l really needed someone to help me in babysitting my son, as l worked. I was happy when the clinic owner offered to help.Little did l know that it was the genesis of my tribulations, “she told the Nation.
According to Wambui, the woman, identified as Mama Ndirangu, had told her that she also operated a daycare centre in the same premises.
Ms Wambui recalls, the woman agreed to take care of the child, saying that she had hired someone else to do that work.
Without any reservations, Ms Wambui revealed that, the following day she visited the ‘daycare’ at around 7 am, left baby Bravin under the care of the woman and headed to work.
A Photo of Bravin Mugendi when he was young. The photo was taken before he went missing on April 15, 2022.
To ensure the baby was comfortable, she left behind enough diapers and baby food that would last till evening.
Unknown to her, that was the last time she could see her son. He went missing, never to be found.
When she went to pick up the baby after work, Mama Ndirangu told her the other woman, who was babysitting him, had left with him.
“We waited for more than four hours for the woman to return, but minutes turned to hours and she never picked up our phone calls.She later switched off her phone, prompting me to leave, hoping that the baby would be returned the next day, but he was not,”she recalled.
That is when hell broke loose for the young mother.
“Mama Ndirangu told me to go home and return in the morning assuring me that my baby was safe, I did not want to hear any of her stories, but after staying there for two more hours, I had no option but to go home. I did not sleep that night. I kept wondering how he was if he was fine. It was a long night,” said the mother of three.
The next day Ms Wambui went back to Mama Ndirangu’s clinic,but she informed her that the woman who had been babysitting her son had rushed to Kisii County to handle an emergency.
She told that she promised that she will return later in the day.
Minutes turned to hours and hours became days, but my baby was nowhere to be seen.
“Fed up with what l felt were well scripted lies, I reported the matter to the Kaptembwa police station. Mama Ndirangu and the woman were arrested and later released without being taken to court," added the mother of three.
She said the police later accused her of selling the child willingly. She was arrested and detained for four days without being charged.
Ms Wambui claimed that a mobile phone belonging to her, which contained text messages from Ms Ndirangu requesting her to accept Sh50,000, so that she leaves the child matter, was confiscated by the police at the time of her arrest and was told that it got lost.
She said the mobile phone was never returned.
To date, Ms Wambui is yet to set eyes on baby Bravin with only hopes that he is fine wherever he is and that she will one day reunite with him.
In November, 2022, (status of case in court? Ms Wambui was informed that officers in Homabay County had rescued a two-year-old child in an alleged child trafficking incident. But, upon investigations she learnt it was not her son Bravin.
A child trafficking report recorded at Kendu Bay police station at that time, indicated that the child was sold for Sh80,000 at Keroka town in Nyamira County, before he was driven to Nyaburi village in Karachuonyo location in Homa Bay.
According to the police report, police officers from the station, while on patrol duties, received information that a certain motor vehicle with registration number KCW 901Y was transporting a kidnapped child along the Oyugis-Kendu Bay route.
They laid an ambush and intercepted the motor vehicle and a driver, Mr George Ochieng,47, was arrested.
After interrogation, the driver led the officers to the house of one Ruth Aoko, 62, and her two accomplices Winny Ginjo and Molly Akinyi were arrested, and the little boy was rescued.
The three were taken to custody and were later arraigned in court for the offence of trafficking in persons c/sec 3(a) as read with section 4(3) of the Counter Trafficking in Persons Act.
Ms Wambui said that a friend informed her that a kidnapped child photo was circulating on social media and that she should check if it was Bravin.
She travelled to Homabay to check if the baby was her son Bravin.
The child was held at a children’s home in Homabay but a DNA test conducted turned negative with Ms Wambui returning to Nakuru with a shattered heart with only hopes that she will one day find her missing son.
"It's now one year without my baby. I just hope that I will one day find him, even if he grows I will recognise her, he is my son I cannot forget his face,"she said
