A woman has pleaded guilty to trying to sell her one-and-half year old baby.
According to the charge sheet, on March 6, at Namboboto village in Funyula constituency, the woman offered to sell her son to one Justus Ojanji at Sh300,000.
“On March 6, 2019, at Namboboto village in Samia sub-county within Busia County, being mother to SO, a boy child aged one year and six months, (you) offered him for sale to a Justus Odowa Ojanji at Sh300,000,” read the charge sheet.
The deal did not, however, end, as police were tipped and made some arrests.
The woman was arrested alongside a man who pleaded not guilty to facilitating the sale of the child, in violation of the Children’s Act. “On March 6, 2019 at Namboboto village, Samia sub county facilitated the sale of a baby boy to Justus Odowa Ojanji at Sh300,000,” read the second suspect’s charge sheet.
The suspect told Principal Magistrate Samson Temu he was approached by the woman to look for someone to buy the baby, saying she was a single mother with five other children who she was struggling to raise.Besides the money, the only other condition for sale was that the buyer should be someone without a child of their own.
“She came to me and told me she had six children and therefore she was willing to sell the baby boy,” said the man charged with facilitating the sale deal.The magistrate directed that the baby’s intended buyer, who was not in court, be arraigned to face the law.
“The person who was to buy the child should be produced in court,” said Temu.
The case will continue next Monday after the baby’s intended buyer is produced in court.