Child trafficking suspect held until mother, couple testify in court
The child has been rescued and reunited with the mother after the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) arrested the child trafficking suspect, Catherine Kerubo.
A 43-year-old woman who allegedly stole her friend's two-year-old child in Nairobi and abandoned her at an elderly couple's home in Kisii County will remain in custody until the mother of the child and the couple testify.
The child has been rescued and reunited with the mother after the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) arrested the child trafficking suspect, Catherine Kerubo.
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Senior Principal Magistrate Renee Kitangwa of Makadara Law Courts also ordered a probation officer's report on Kerubo to determine her suitability for bail and bond before releasing her.
Kerubo was charged with a serious offence of Counter trafficking a person contrary to section 3 (1) (d) as read with section 3 (5) of the counter trafficking in Persons Act of 2010.
"On May 26, 2025, at Tea Room bus stage in Nairobi Central Business District (CBD) within Nairobi County, you trafficked by transferring E.B. from Nairobi to Kisii County by means of deception," the charge against Kerubo reads. She denied the charge.
Kerubo allegedly stole the female child from Emilly Mosweta after she was discharged from Mimosa Hospital in Kasarani, a day after she delivered.
The child's mother later reported the matter to Buruburu police station before the DCI took over investigations and traced Kerubo to her hideout in Nyali Sub County in Mombasa County, where she had gone after abandoning the child in Kisii.
She visited an elderly couple's home, allegedly feigning desperation and begged for drinking water, which she was served and later went to relieve herself before she fled, leaving the child behind.
The couple reported the matter to the National Government Administration Officials (NGAO), including the area Assistant Chief and Chief, who reported the matter to the Masamba Sub County Children's office.
The administrators held meetings in their jurisdictions in an effort to trace the parents of the newborn without success before DCI arrived with Kerubo and Mosweti, tracing the child.
The child was recovered from the elderly couple who were her custodians for the two weeks the government was looking for her parents.
Ms Kerubo will be held at the Langata Women's Maximum-Security Prison until Mosweta and the elderly couple testify in court.
The court will also have to receive the suspect's social inquiry report before considering releasing her on bail and bond.
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