The ManicaPost
Luthando Mapepa and Liberty Dube Post Correspondents
A CHIPINGE family was left traumatised after their maid did the unthinkable and stole their infant, while a 19-year-old woman from Chigodora has been hauled before a regional court in Mutare on allegations of stealing a child from a vendor in a bid to please her ex-husband.
In Chipinge, the recently employed domestic worker was later arrested at her rural home in Chiredzi after detectives quickly reacted and made a follow up.
Virginia Tanatswa Sithole from Porusingazi Village under Chief Gudo area committed the crime on Tuesday. She is set to appear in court today on theft and kidnapping chrages.
The mother of the infant Margaret Muyambo of Medium Density, who is employed as a nurse at Chipinge District Hospital was relieved after reuniting with her daughter.
“On Monday my colleagues introduced me to this girl who was looking for a job. I really wanted someone to look after my daughter while I am at work. I took the maid to my office and explained to her the conditions of service. We agreed and I took her to my house. The following day I went to work leaving her with my one-year-old daughter.
“At around 4pm I drove home intending to check if my daughter was okay and that is when I realised that the maid was not at home. I tried to be patient and waited for her return for some hours but she did not show up.
“I notified my husband and he made a police report and a search was conducted. We did not sleep that night. A team of detectives then made a follow and recovered my daughter in Chiredzi on Wednesday at around 2pm.
“I want to give credit to detectives at Chipinge CID for their work because they recovered my daughter alive. She was medically examined and everything is well,” she said.
Chipinge district CID public relations officer, Assistant Inspector Daniel Mhini, confirmed the incident and said the culprit is expected to appear in court soon.
“On May 6, the kidnapper posed as an innocent childminder to Margaret Muyambo who was looking for a maid. Muyambo employed Sithole as a child minder and entrusted her to keep the infant at her matrimonial home. On May 7 at around 8 am, Muyambo went to her workplace leaving her child in the care of the purported child minder.
“At around 3pm on the same day the deceitful child minder transformed her evil thoughts into action, ransacked the bedroom and stole R500 before strapping the baby on her back. She left the residence and boarded a commuter omnibus to her rural home in Porusingazi Village which is about 200km from Chipinge town. Muyambo returned back home and found the child missing,” he said.
Suspected baby thief Virginia Tanatswa Sithole
Meanwhile, in a desperate bid to please her ex-husband and relatives, the 19-year-old Chigodora woman stole a two-month-old baby boy on Sunday from a vendor at Sakubva market.
The baby’s mother, Energy Mangarai’s cell phone sold out the culprit, Cressy Andisani, after she had earlier used it to call her ex-husband to inform him about the ‘good news’.
Mangarai proceeded to her ex-husband’s homestead in Chigodora to show them the ‘bundle of joy’.
She pleaded guilty to kidnapping charges when she appeared before Mutare regional magistrate, Mrs Loice Mukunyadze.
The sentence was expected to be passed once results of medical examination were availed. Nomathemba Sayi prosecuted.
The court heard that Mangarai, a vendor at Sakubva Musika, was at her vending stall on May 5 at around 12pm carrying the baby on her back.
Andisani arrived and asked for her cell phone to call her ex-husband Isaac Mundodzo. After making the call she asked to help Mangarai carry her baby while she did her work.
Andisani vanished with the baby for almost two hours until Mangarai became suspicious.
“Mangarai tracked her through Mundodzo’s cell number and managed to apprehend her in Chigodora. The suspect had introduced the baby as hers with Isaac Mundodzo,” said Sayi.
