Takoradi baby theft: Court remands suspects

A Takoradi Circuit Court presided over by her honour Abena Agyin Doku has remanded the two suspects involved in the stealing of a one-year-old boy at the Takoradi market circle.

Mawusi Rose Fiaku, 42, and her accomplice believed to be her boyfriend Lawson Lartey 32 appeared before the Court Wednesday after they were charged on Tuesday by the Western Regional Police Command for child stealing, and conspiracy to commit a crime.

The Court remanded the two in police custody to reappear on April 5 after Mawusi pleaded guilty to all the charges and asked the judge to have mercy on her because of her pregnancy.

The court subsequently ordered the police to conduct a pregnancy test on Mawusi at an accredited health facility.

Lawson Lartey, however, pleaded not guilty to his charges. His lawyer, Emmanuel Kofi Arthur, told the court Lawson was misled by circumstances after Mawusi told him of her pregnancy and subsequently gave birth as Lawson was outside the country.

Lawyer Arthur further told the court that when his client returned to Ghana he demanded the whereabouts of his baby and after three days of intense pressure from Lawson, Mawusi returned with the stolen one-year-old baby.

He then proceeded to name the child Ibrahim.

Background

Last Friday, the suspect who was dressed in a long dress with a veil covering her face is alleged to have pretended to be shopping in the market and engaged the victim’s mother, Nana Akosua, in a hearty conversation to the extent that the two started speaking local dialect Ewe.

The unidentified suspect requested to assist Nana Akosua to hand over her baby boy to her to relieve her so could serve customers better.

The suspect then took the one-year-old boy and his siblings to a nearby pastries shop and bought them some, and later returned the siblings leaving the one-year-old boy with the pastries seller.

The suspect then promised to return the boy but subsequently bolted away with the boy without the mother noticing.

Later, the victim’s mother, realising their absence at the pastries shop, raised an alarm but it was too late to trace the whereabouts of her baby.

The frustrated mother began searching for her baby but could only get footage of her missing baby and the suspect from some banks whose CCTV captured them.