21-year-old woman arraigned for allegedly kidnapping a month-old baby

A 21-year-old woman, Ronke Odelabi, of Kolara Area, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, was on Wednesday arraigned in an Ilorin Magistrates’ Court for allegedly kidnapping a month-old baby. The Prosecutor, Mr Nasiru Yusuf, said the accused absconded with the baby belonging to her neighbour to her parent-in-law in Ogbomoso to deceive them that she had given birth to a baby. The mother of the child, Funke Olowokere, resident of Oja-Oba area, Ilorin, said that, on Feb. 2, she gave her child (name withheld) to the accused, who was her co-tenant, while she was busy washing clothes. She said that when she finished washing, she discovered that the accused had absconded with the child to unknown destination and all efforts to contact her through her phone number proved abortive. The prosecutor said that investigation into the matter revealed that the accused kept the baby with one Odunola Adeyanju in Ogbomoso, where the police arrested her with the child. He said that the accused was arraigned in the court on a one-count charge of kidnapping, contrary to Section 273 of the Penal Code Law. Yusuf informed the court that investigation into the matter was yet to be concluded. He objected to the bail application of the accused and urged the court to remand her in prison pending the determination of the case. Magistrate Ibrahim Mohammed refused the oral application of the prosecutor and released the accused on bail at the sum of N200,000 and two sureties in like sum. He also ordered that one of the sureties must be a Grade Level 10 officer in the Kwara Civil Service. He, therefore, adjourned the case until March 18 for further mention.(NAN)