A 21-year-old woman charged with stealing a newborn baby at a Mombasa hospital Tuesday denied the charge before Mombasa Senior Resident Magistrate Ritah Amwayi.
Ms Amina Juma Masha was released on Sh1 million bond with an equal surety.
The charge sheet indicates that Ms Masha intentionally took baby Brown Njuguna from his mother, Ms Victoria Zubeida, shortly after she was discharged from the hospital.
She allegedly committed the offence on January 7, in Mikindiani, Jomvu Constituency.
She was arrested the same day by a multi-agency team.
Ms Zubeida, 25, said she left the suspect with her child when she went back to the hospital to collect drugs that she had forgotten, only for the suspect to disappear with her child.
“I found her at the maternity ward. She heard all the conversations I had with the nurse.
“When I was discharged, she offered to help me with the baby. On reaching the Kijiweni matatu stage, she reminded me about the drugs I had left at the facility, so I left her with the baby,” Ms Zubeida narrated.