Police have arrested a 21-year-old woman for allegedly kidnapping a three-day-old baby from Margaret Zuma Clinic in the Winnie Mandela section of Tembisa.
Police said the infant’s 31-year-old mother brought her baby to the clinic for a check-up on Monday, 23 June.
According to police spokesperson Sergeant Patricia Mgijima, the mother needed to use the toilet and asked a woman standing in the queue to hold her child.
When the mother returned, both the woman and the baby had disappeared.
CCTV helped trace the suspect
Security footage captured the suspect, dressed in a black tracksuit, leaving the clinic with the swaddled infant.
By Tuesday morning, police had tracked the suspect to the nearby Dali Mpofu informal settlement, where they arrested her and recovered the baby.
Motivated by fear after a miscarriage
The suspect allegedly told police she had suffered a miscarriage in May and kidnapped the baby to pretend it was hers.
“She said she was afraid to tell her family and her partner’s family that she miscarried,” Mgijima said.
Medical staff conducted a check-up on the baby as a precaution after confirming the infant appeared unharmed.
Authorities expect the suspect to appear in the Tembisa Magistrate’s Court soon.
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