Voi: Questions as newborn stolen from hospital and found at woman's house

Speaking to Wananchi Reporting, the newborn's father, Ambrose Maungu, said, "There was negligence because if there was someone looking after the children in the ward, this would not have happened in the first place."

He went on, "Instead of the security guards focussing on primarily on not letting guests into the facility, they need to put their focus on the newborn unit to prevent people from stealing children."

The incident is said to have taken place after the newborn baby boy's mother was taken to the theatre to deliver by C-section. 

The family only discovered their baby was missing four hours later.

"I came to the hospital looking to see my son but I wasn't being given any information about his whereabouts. Even the surgery itself was done at odd hours," the boy's father said.

The DCI office in Voi was roped into the matter and seven hours later, the newborn was found in Mabomani area in a woman's house.

The woman, who had insisted that the stolen child was hers, was arrested pending investigations.

When asked for proof of giving birth, including a birth notification, the woman claimed the documents got lost on her way back home.

The woman's estranged husband said she disappeared from the area for several months, only to reappear with what looked like a pregnancy belly and she said she was due soon.

The husband of the suspected child theft was at the home at the time the police raided it and took the baby. 

He said he had separated from his wife for seven months and she then returned home saying she was expecting.

"I didn't know what to think about the whole situation because we have other children together. She left again and before I knew it, she knocked at the door and came with a baby, saying she had just delivered. I was shocked. She said she was induced and the baby came quickly," he said.

The hospital is yet to release a statement about how the child left its care and was stolen.