A journalist with an international media house has told a court how he exposed a child trafficking ring at Nairobi’s Mama Lucy Hospital two years ago.
Giving evidence virtually, Mr Peter Murimi Magaka, 42, of BBC explained how a social worker at the hospital, Mr Fred Leparan, sold a baby boy to a childless woman for Sh300,000.
Milimani Senior Principal Magistrate Esther Kimilu heard the baby was supposedly being taken to Imani Children’s Home alongside two others.
The three children had been abandoned at the hospital. Mr Magaka, who was testifying in a case against social workers Leparan and Selina Adundo, who are charged with trafficking three children, was cross-examined by defence lawyer Danstan Omari.
The journalist told the magistrate the three children, who had been abandoned by their mothers, were taken into the hospital for treatment and care.
The BBC reporter, who shot a video on the illegal sale of babies at Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital, played it before the court.
In the video, Mr Leparan is seen going into the hospital, then coming out to meet a woman, who is then handed the baby by a nurse before she drives off. The deal was sealed after several meetings between the journalist, a contact and Mr Leparan.
Mr Leparan allegedly received three bundles of Sh100,000 each from the buyers. Before handing over the baby boy to the woman, Mr Leparan had asked the woman what gender she preferred, to which she replied that gender did not matter. Mr Leparan was asked by the BBC contact whether the baby was healthy and he replied that he was, thus “confirming his intent to steal and sell the child”.
