Mother re - united with her kidnapped children

 By Eddie Ssejjoba and Carol Kasujja

After a two-month hunt; the police have rescued two baby boys and arrested a woman kidnapper in Kawanda in Wakiso district.

 Sylvia Nakanwagi, in her late 20s kidnapped two children, 4-year Simon Kaizuka, a pupil of Kibuye Nursery School and his young brother, Prince who was one month at the time.

Prince was found wrapped with some fetishes, allegedly given by a native doctor to Nakanwagi to help her prevent her arrest.

Police said Nakanwagi was a neighbor to the parents, Kenneth Kaizuka and Mariam Babirye of Nabisaalu zone in Makindye.

She allegedly hired a girl, one Phiona Nassozi who posed as a nanny looking for a job to kidnap the the children.

The children’s mother owned a restaurant in Nabisaalu zone in Kampala and as she kept busy serving her customers, Nassozi was busy planning to steal the babies. Nassozi was arrested and confessed to the offence.

Babirye screamed for help when she returned from serving food and did not find her babies. But she did not have an idea as to who the girl who kidnapped the babies was. Her neighbour Nakanwagi had disappeared too from her place of residence.

Babirye then gave alerted police detectives at Katwe . It was at this point that the police launched a search for the suspects. They (Police) arrested a man; Julius Lule allegedly helped transfer Nakanwagi’s property from the house she was living in.

Lule helped the police to arrest eight others including Nakanwagi’s step mother, Robinah Nalule who informed police that she had hosted her with two babies at her home in Maganjo.

Nalule told police that Nakanwagi also visited a traditional healer to help her ‘kill’ a case but did not know the details of the case. She said Nakwagi later shifted to an unknown location.

 Other suspects arrested included Lule’s wife, Brenda Ndagire, Rose Birungi, Annette Nalunga, Goretti Namawejje, Irene Nakato and Ronald Ssemmanda.

The police later got clue from suspects that Nakanwagi had a lover she had lied to that she had delivered two of his babies.

Detectives tapped her lover’ phone, John Kayongo, a truck driver at Kireka and got in touch with him.  Kayongo cooperated with the investigation team and tricked Nakanwagi.

She was arrested at about midday 10.00 Oclock on Monday when she surfaced with the young baby to pick shs100.000.

She cried and denied having stolen the babies and insisted the one she was the biological mother. She even offered to breastfeed the baby but gave up when women detectives insisted on doing so. She also gave contracting statements about the father, the name of the baby and her home.