Missing baby found in Dunkirk
Infant snatcher spends night in jail
Published:Tuesday | March 12, 2024 | 9:05 AM
Andre Williams/Staff Reporter
ELEVEN-DAY-OLD Kimoya Robe, who was abducted from her mother on the compound of the Victoria Jubilee Hospital (VJH), was medically examined last evening after investigators acting on information swooped down on the east Kingston community of Dunkirk and retrieved the child.
The newborn was found in the company of the woman who the police surmised had tricked her wheelchair-bound mother, according to head of the Kingston Western police, Senior Superintendent Michael Phipps.
The SSP said that the investigation will determine the reason for the abduction.
“We are in the process of having the child medically examined whilst we will interview all persons who can provide information and in the same breath, we will seek to have the person found in possession of the child placed in custody at one of our female facilities,” SSP Phipps said, while confirming the welcoming news that the baby was safely in the care of the State.
Up to press time, information was that the child was going through the routine examination process at the Bustamante Hospital for Children.
The parents, 26-year-old Christiana Blake, mother, and father 33-year-old Kevin Robe who are from a Kingston 7 address, pleaded with the public through the media to give the police whatever information they had so they could be reunited with their child.
Official charges could be proffered against the suspect as early as today.
Thereafter a court date would be set for her to appear before the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court.
The Denham Town police had launched a probe following a report of the stolen baby.
The incident occurred yesterday about 10:05 a.m.
Reports are that the suspect, who the child’s mother claimed she met before at the medical facility on more than one occasion, approached her and offered to assist with the baby.
The mother then handed her the baby and while talking to the suspect, she left, claiming she would return momentarily.
The mother attempted to stop the woman while she was leaving.
However, she left with the baby and did not return.
A report was made and the compound was checked.
The police compiled an investigation team and immediately began probing the incident.
News emerged just before 4 p.m. that the baby girl was found in the custody of the suspect.
However, our news team was unsuccessful in attempts to reach the parents upon retrieving the newborn.
The Gleaner has not ascertained if the parents have officially been reunited as there is a process which must be adhered to in instances where there’s an abduction.
In 2019, Sae’breon Hutton, a day-old baby, was abducted from the VJH and it took investigators almost a month to find the missing child.
Peta-Gay French, who was 28-years old at the time, was charged with child stealing after attempting to register the baby at the Registrar General’s Department in St Catherine.
She was sentenced to three years and fours months after she pleaded guilty to the offence.