Father places hope on DNA test to find child

Four years after the search for his daughter who went missing in 2009 failed to bear fruit, Mr Mohammed Burei lost hope of ever finding his fifth-born child.

The 58-year-old father of eight even performed an Islamic ceremony, “hitma”, marking her “death”.

Then, last week, Mr Burei received a call from his brother-in-law, Mr Mohammed Sheikh, telling him he knew of the whereabouts of his daughter, who was abducted from their home in Shanzu, Mombasa, when she was six months old.

On Thursday, Mr Burei shed tears of joy while his wife fainted as they narrated how their despair had turned to joy.

“He said he had seen a girl in Kizingitini, Lamu, who resembled my Yasmin. I could not believe it,” Mr Burei said.

SEARCH

On Monday this week, the hopeful father travelled with his brother-in-law to Kizingitini, and upon seeing the girl, he could not believe his eyes.

“My brother-in-law was accompanied by the police as I waited at the police station. I never imagined that I would find her one day. I could not hold back my tears when I saw her at the police station in Lamu,” Mr Burei, unable to hold back the tears, said.

“We can’t believe we found our daughter alive and healthy after nine years of searching. Her abduction had left this family in agony,” he added."

Mr Burei said he had looked for his daughter in Garissa, Nairobi and other parts of the coast, in vain.

Speaking to the Nation, Mr Sheikh said he was visiting his brother-in-law when their daughter was kidnapped.

“I was with the family when they started the search, so when I visited Lamu and saw a kid who looked like my in-law (Burei). I decided to make a follow up,” Mr Sheikh said.

POLICE CUSTODY

Upon probing further, he learnt that the girl, now 10 and in Standard Four, was living in Lamu with a woman identified only as Ms Mariam.

Ms Mariam, now in police custody in Mombasa, was on Wednesday taken to the Shanzu Law Court where the magistrate ordered that DNA tests be conducted on Mr Burei, Ms Ali and the girl before the case proceeds.

Investigators confided to the Nation that Ms Mariam had admitted that the child, whom she named Neema, was not hers and was given to her by a woman she identified only as Caro.

“The suspect has been giving conflicting reports on how she got the child, but she is still being questioned as we continue piecing together the details,” the police source said.

WOMAN ASSAULTED

According to Yasmin's mother, Ms Maimuna Ali, three men broke into their house at around 3am in March 2009 and beat her badly before escaping with the child on foot as she cried out for help.

Her husband, a security guard, was at work on night shift.

The distraught parents reported the matter at the Bamburi Police Station, where it was entered as OB Number 5/07/3/09.