Katakwi 'teenage baby thief' arrested

Jul 20, 2016

She is said to have stolen the baby inside a church after it was baptized.

A teenage girl in Katakwi district has been arrested for reportedly stealing a baby.

Believed to be in her late teens, the girl's real identity is not clear as she is said to have been using different names in different places she has been to.

She claims to be 15 but local police say they will confirm her actual age with her parents.

They say she has been calling herself Scovia, Sarah and Esther. At Katakwi Central Police Station, she identified herself as Esther Akwii.

Her villagemates of Oigo-imumwa in Ongongoja sub-county claim she is Immaculate Akello.

She is reported to have stolen the baby inside a church after it was baptized.  Apparently, she took the child away from another younger girl at St. Paul Church of Uganda.

The baby had just been baptized together with seven others by Rev. James Opio.

The other girl, who was not named, reported the theft to the baby's parents - Aanyu-Charles Obwokor and Dinah Aguti of Katakwi Town Council.

Police was then told of the missing child and after hours of searching, they found the one-month-old baby with ‘Akwii' the following day in Aujongaba village.

The area residents' suspicion also helped police to trace the child.

"Some people asked her why the baby was crying but she responded that her breasts had run dry of milk and this made the people around to get suspicious. A few concerned ones called police to arrest her," said OC Peter Oduko of Katakwi Central Police Station.

Police investigations are said to be under way to establish the motive for the baby theft.

It's not the first time ‘Akwii' has been arrested for stealing babies. Three years ago, the daughter of a former soldier stole a girl from Soroti and took her to Amuria district, but her parents immediately intervened and returned the baby.

"We again arrested her in 2014 during our operation to arrest the so-called ‘Team no sleep' which was formed by young girls of below 15 years of age with the aim of selling sex in Katakwi Town Council," says Oduko.

Now she faces charges of baby theft.

Meanwhile, the girl from whom the baby was taken was released from police custody after the baby was found.

 

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