Three women were on Wednesday arraigned in a Nanyuki court charged with illegal adoption of a five-year-old child belonging to one of them.
Esther Ekale, 26, who is the mother of the child was charged alongside Jane Watare and Jane Wanjiru denied the charges before Nanyuki Principal Magistrate Njeri Thuku who remanded them in police custody until next month when the case will be mentioned after they denied the charges.
The prosecution led by Virginia Kariuki stated that on June 13, 2020, within Naro Moru Township in Kieni East Sub County in Nyeri, Esther Ekale unlawfully placed into the care of Jane Watare who wanted to adopt the child.
Ekale was also charged with receiving Sh. 28,500 on June 13, 2020, from Jane Watare who wished to adopt the child.
Wanjiru was also separately charged that on the said date, she facilitated Watare to illegally adopt the child. She is also charged that on the same date, she made arrangement for payments to be made to Ekale following the illegal adoption of her child.
The magistrate ordered that the trio be remanded at Naro Moru police station until July 8, 2020, when they would appear before the court where she also ordered that a probation report be presented in court on the same day.
She further ordered that a Children’s Officer furnish the court with the child’s report on the same day while the minor has been placed under the care of Children Services.
The prosecution told the court they had lined up four witnesses for the case.
By Martin Munyi
Three women in court for illegal adoption of a child
