By Chisomo Phiri
Police at Area 3 in Lilongwe are keeping in custody a man identified as Wyson Misoya, 32,and his wife, Gloria Misoya, 32,for stealing a two-day-old baby girl at Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) on Monday.
It is said that since marrying each other in 2022, the husband was pressuring the wife to bear him a child, against the fact that the woman took a permanent procedure to prevent pregnancy (female sterilization).
The situation prompted the wife to fake pregnancy.
The husband took his wife to Bwaila District Hospital purportedly to give birth.
This was being done despite the husband knowing that the pregnancy was fake, as their plan was to steal a child at any of the hospitals in the city.
After failing to steal one at Bwaila Hospital, the couple left for KCH on Monday, where the wife met and started chatting with a certain granny who was carrying a newborn baby for her granddaughter at the hospital’s kitchen.
The woman suspect then requested the granny to help babysit the child, before disappearing after telling the granny that she was temporarily leaving the place to buy mangoes.
However, a day after getting home with the baby, the suspects were reported to police by their landlady and other experienced women after becoming suspicious with them.
Meanwhile, the baby girl has been reunited with her mother after being declared to be medically well by KCH.
The suspects, who have two children each from their previous marriages, will appear in court soon to answer a case of Theft of a Child.
Wyson Misoya hails from Mwabvi Village, Traditional Authority (T/A) Nsabwe, Thyolo, while Gloria Misoya is from Denyama Village, T/A Ntchema in Chiradzulu District.