Mother who sold two-year-old daughter jailed for three years

A woman who sold her two-year-old baby for Sh13,000 was on Monday jailed for three years.

Sophia Kwamboka Batasi was convicted after she pleaded guilty before Nyamira resident magistrate Nobert Okumu on Thursday.

She said she had sold her child because her husband had abandoned them and she could not take care of the baby on her own. However, she was not sentenced immediately because the prosecution asked for time to enjoin other suspects in the case.

Police are yet to find the woman who bought the child.

A man suspected to have been a broker in the deal was released after he turned out to be a boda boda operator who was hired by Kwamboka to take her to the buyer.

The baby was rescued by Kwamboka’s father, Mr Benson Batasi Momanyi.

Kwamboka was accused of selling her daughter on February 10 at Bondeka village, West Mugirango, in Nyamira South District.

In mitigation, she said: “I ask for leniency and promise to take care of my baby.”

But the magistrate said the offence was serious and called for a deterrent sentence.

Wife is ailing

Kwamboka’s father, Mr Batasi, appealed to the magistrate to put his daughter on probation so that she can take care of her child.

“My wife is ailing and unable to look after the baby,” he told the court.

The magistrate advised Mr Batasi to raise his concerns with the prosecutor.

Mr Abel Batasi, a brother of Ms Kwamboka, said she told him last year that she was planning to sell the child because her marriage was on the rocks.

“I pleaded with her not to do that. I was surprised when she finally made good her threat,” he said.

He and his father realised that Kwamboka had sold the baby when she went home drunk and without the child.

“We asked her where the baby was, but she could not explain. But I asked Abel to interrogate her, she confessed that she had sold the baby,” Mr Batasi said.

Abel said her sister left home with the baby to an unknown place after separating with her husband.

“When she was brought home, I found her with Sh8,000 and a new phone. I smelled a rat because she did not have the baby and she did not have such money and phone when she left home,” Abel said. He took the money and gave it to his mother who kept it.

When the charge was read to her, Kwamboka who was composed in the dock readily pleaded guilty.

“Yes, I sold the baby as read in the charge sheet,” she told the packed courtroom.