Patria-Kaye Aarons | Lies and deception

You may know that last week, a baby was stolen from the University Hospital of the West Indies. The day-old girl, whose parents happened to be two employees of that same institution, went missing from her mother's side before visiting hours even started.

Sounded like the plot straight out of a horror movie.

What you may not know is that the baby was stolen by their coworker - by their female coworker.

Turns out Miss Lady had told her boyfriend abroad that she had given birth to his child. But nutten neva go suh. 'Twas all fabricated good news. The boyfriend then dropped some news of his own that caught the pretend mother off-guard. He was coming home to Jamaica for Christmas to see her and, more important, to see his new baby.

Miss Thing soiled herself. And the best solution she could come up with to get herself out of the messy hole was to steal someone else's child and present it to the man as his.

 

A SOAP OPERA

 

This brings 'jacket' to a new low. This was no longer a horror movie. It was more like Days Of Our Lives - during the Marlena and Stephano days, where the storylines were unrealistically bizarre.

Let's not talk about how she told the man she had given birth to a boy, yet she stole a girl baby. I can't imagine how she would spin the case of the world's first sex-change baby.

"Honey. It's a miracle. Some days he's a she and other days she's a he." She clearly didn't think the whole plan through.

To think of all the doctor fees she tricked the man into sending for nine months. How the unsuspecting man 'Western Unioned' the hospital bill and how much Pampers money she had already collected.

Was she just going to keep the child and raise it as her own? Like nothing ever happened? Or was she going to return it after Christmas, like a blouse she changed her mind about?

How would she explain away to her relatives a pregnancy-less new addition to the family?

Suppose the man didn't decide to come until 2025? Would she kidnap a nine-year-old?

How would her conscience allow her to face the grieving parents every day at work. Would she sit in the lunchroom and eat a corned beef sandwich unperturbed as her co-workers mourned the mysterious disappearance of their beloved bundle?

And what about when the obviously Indian child started to wonder why mummy and daddy's hair texture was different from hers?

What a heartless web of deception!

 

ANGUISHED PARENTS

 

Last Friday, on Nationwide Radio, as I interviewed the baby's father, I heard a man in anguish. Angry and scared and frustrated and confused and not knowing what to do next. A man crushed because he couldn't protect his daughter and because he couldn't console his wife.

All because of this woman and her lies.

When Superintendent Lindsay broke it to him in our interview that his baby had been found, Mr Maxwell was so relieved and happy, he hung up the phone immediately, mid-interview, to call his wife. And I understood.

There are times in history where women have earned the title 'wicked'. Add this to the list. The baby, the man abroad, or the traumatised parents should never have had to star in her bizarre, scripted drama. Good policing caused her to be caught before the day was done, and if there is any justice in the world, she'll be locked away for a long time.

If Kartel can write music from behind bars, maybe she can write a play.

- Patria-Kaye Aarons is a television presenter and confectioner. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and findpatria@yahoo.com, or tweet @findpatria.