A 19-year-old woman has been arrested by the Tesano Police in Accra for allegedly stealing a three-month-old baby of her neighbour at Avenor, near the Kwame Nkrumah Circle.
The suspect, Deborah Ansah, was said to have run away with the baby to her hometown, Achiansa Nubesu, near Suhum, in the Eastern Region.
She is said to have told her relations in her hometown that she had given birth to the baby and had returned to live in the village with her.
However, according to the police, her relations became suspicious following her inability to breast feed the baby and rather fed her on canned baby cereals.
The mother of the baby has since been located and identified only as Aminatu.
Briefing the Daily Graphic, the Tesano Divisional Police Commander, Chief Superintendent of Police, Ms Lydia Donkor, said Debora was arrested on March 3, after a 7-day search for her and the baby.
Ms Donkor said Deborah, who lived in the same neighbourhood with Aminatu, offered to assist the new mother with household chores after she was delivered of her baby in late 2015.
She said Deborah was said to be frequenting the house of Aminatu to assist her with household chores as she was unable to do hard work since she was delivered of her baby through caesarian operation.
Baby stolen while mother slept
Ms Donkor said about 10a.m. on February 26, 2016, after the mother of the baby had fed it, she took her into the bedroom so that she could have a nap and after some time, both mother and baby fell asleep.
Deborah who was visiting at the time, was playing ludo, an indoor game, with a neighbour in the house.
While the mother and baby were sleeping, Ms Donkor said Deborah took the sleeping baby and carried it on her back.
She said Deborah told the neighbour that she was going to the market to get some items but failed to return.
Later, when Aminatu woke up, Ms Donkor said, she realised that her baby was nowhere to be found.
She said all efforts to trace Deborah and the baby proved futile until the police received information that Deborah had been spotted in her hometown with a baby.
Acting on the tip-off, Ms Donkor said a team of detectives from the Tesano Police Command, led by the Divisional Crime Officer, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Mr S. K. Donyina Kyereme, went to Deborah’s hometown and with the cooperation of the residents arrested her with the baby.
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