A Nairobi court on Wednesday, October 4, 2023, sent a strong message to persons involved in babies selling syndicates at health facilities in the country that it will not be business as usual.
This is after a former Mama Lucy Hospital Social Worker Fred Leopara Makalla was handed down a 35-year jail term for hatching a scheme to sell three infants abandoned at the facility three years ago. The three infants were aged eight days, two weeks and two months, respectively.
However, Leopara's co-accused person Celina Awuor Adundo, also a social worker, was slapped with a two-year prison term with an alternative fine of Ksh300,000 after she was only found guilty of the offence of child negligence.
While imposing the separate sentences on the two social workers, Milimani Senior Principal Magistrate Esther Kimilu said the accused persons lacked empathy for the children who were under their care and were not remorseful.
However, she ruled that the purpose of the sentencing was to ensure that the duo were accountable for their mistakes and to deter any other person who intends to commit similar offences.
"Leparan is a person who had worked for long in community service and ought to have protected the children under his care. He lacks empathy for them and was not remorseful," the magistrate said.
"I therefore sentence him as follows, 3 years in count of conspiracy to traffic children, count 2,3, and 4 to 30 years for trafficking three children and count 6 and 7 to two years for child negligence," Magistrate Kimilu ruled.
The magistrate clarified that Leparan would only serve 25 years in custody and serve 10 years on probation under close supervision.
For the two convicts, the court cautioned that the two should not be subjected to any matter touching on children in the future.
The court has further ordered the three children be released for adoption.
Makallah and Awuor had been charged with stealing three infants from the hospital on diverse dates between March and November 2020. They were last month found guilty of the offences of conspiracy to commit a felony, child trafficking and negligence.
The arrest of the two workers on May 18, 2020, followed an exposé that aired on BBC Africa titled 'The Baby Stealers'. It showed how child trafficking was rife at the public health facility.
The three children were stolen from the hospital and passed on to third parties at a fee. According to the BBC Eye exposé, a gang of organised criminals had been stealing children from homeless mothers and selling them for as little as Ksh45,000.
While convicting Makalla, Kimilu ruled that the prosecution adduced overwhelming evidence that he held three meetings for the purpose of the sale of a child that was abandoned at the facility.
"My determination is that the first accused (Makalla) is guilty of conspiracy to commit a felony and count two of trafficking persons. He is accordingly convicted", the magistrate ruled.
However, the magistrate acquitted Awour on the two counts as she was not mentioned in any of the CCTV footage adduced in court by the prosecution on the sale of one of the three children.
But the court convicted Awour and Makalla on the charge of negligence.
Kimilu, in her decision, said that the two employees failed to protect the infants said to have been trafficked.
"I find the Prosecution has proved a prima facie case against the accused persons herein and l accordingly convict them," Kimilu ruled.
Child trafficking at Mama Lucy Hospital
During the hearing of the case, Peter Murimi Magaka, a BBC reporter and the key prosecution witness in the case, informed the court that the three babies had been abandoned at the hospital by their mothers and were later taken by the administration for treatment and care.
In his evidence, he narrated how Makallah, who is a social worker at the hospital, pocketed Ksh300,000 from him pretending to be a buyer.
Murimi, a director and producer of the film "The Baby Stealers" aired on BBC in 2020, told the court that Ksh300,000 was put on the table at the request of Makalla
In the first instance, a video clip played in court during the hearing of the case, Makallah 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 and Makallah.
Makallah allegedly received three bundles of Ksh100,000 each all totalling Ksh300, 000 from the buyers before handing over the baby boy to the woman.
Makallah had asked the woman the gender she preferred, to which she replied that gender did not matter.
He (Makallah) was asked by the BBC reporter who had pretended to be a buyer whether the baby was healthy, and he replied that he was thereby confirming his intent to steal and sell the child.
In 2021, then Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji dropped charges against Dr Musa Mohammed Ramadhan who was then a medic at the hospital and turned him into a State witness.
