A 25-year-old mother of two was charged in a Kitui court on Tuesday with selling her three-day-old baby for Sh10,000.
The mother was arraigned before Kitui resident magistrate Johnstone Munguti facing child trafficking charges.
BABY SOLD
The single mother was charged alongside the alleged buyer, Ms Bernadette Musanya.
The court was told that the mother gave birth to a girl at Kanyangi Health Centre in Kitui Rural Constituency on December 29, 2017 and sold the baby to Ms Musanya on January 1, 2018.
Both suspects were arrested by police on January 3 and the newborn was rescued from the buyer just as she planned to flee to Machakos County.
The two pleaded guilty to the charges and were remanded at Kitui GK prison, awaiting a report on the custody of the newborn from the children’s department before a ruling is made.
POOR
The mother told the court that she sold the child out of desperation because she could not afford raising her alongside her other two children.
Her neighbours at Kanyangi, where she earns a living washing clothes, raised the alarm and reported the missing child to the police.
The hearing of the case has been set for January 18.