CHIVI – A woman from Chivi who was eager to please her husband who left her for a small house appeared in court last week after she stole a one-day-old baby from Berejena Hospital.
Rester Mapombwa (31) stole the baby and placed it in a bag when she sneaked into the maternity ward at the hospital.
The baby belonged to Tatenda Nhinga (18) of Masvingise Village under Headman Makamure in Chief Nemauzhe’s area.
Mapombwa took the baby and placed her in a bag.
Mapombwa appeared before Chivi Resident magistrate Bishard Chineka facing a kidnapping charge and she was slapped with a three-year-imprisonment.
During her testimony in court, Mapombwa said she had lied to her husband that she was pregnant and as a first wife, she wanted to please her husband so that he would give her some money for the upkeep of the child.
Mapombwa said she was the first wife in a polygamous marriage and her husband was not taking care of her as he was now staying with the second wife.
It is the State case that on April 26, 2016 at 1pm, Mapombwa went to the maternity ward masquerading as a relative to one of the mothers in the ward.
She then gained entry and in a bid to divert the attention of the mothers from their babies she lied to the women in the ward that their clothes had fallen from the washing line.
The court heard that all women who were in the ward went outside for their clothes and the accused proceeded to take the baby belonging to Nhinga and went away unnoticed.
Upon realising that one of the babies was missing, the women alerted officials at the hospital. Mapombwa was found with the baby in her bag and was arrested. Nixon Chamisa prosecuted