Baby thief sent to prison

A YOUNG Angolan woman who admitted that she kidnapped a baby in Windhoek early this year was sent to prison for an effective year and a half yesterday.

Regla Da Cisneros Felicidade’s crimes were committed out of desperation, her defence lawyer, Sisa Namandje, told Magistrate Duard Kesslau when Felicidade pleaded guilty to charges of kidnapping, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, and assault in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday last week.Namandje told the magistrate that Felicidade (25) lost her own baby in December last year. Desperate to have a child of her own, she then travelled to Namibia in January and, on January 26, kidnapped a five-month-old baby in Windhoek.The kidnapping took place at a small hotel, where Felicidade met the babysitter who was looking after the child. She overpowered the babysitter by giving her a doctored drink and then assaulting and strangling her, before tying her up and leaving the hotel with the baby.Felicidade was arrested, still in the city, about three hours later.She initially denied that she had kidnapped the baby. During a bail application in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court last month she claimed she had travelled to Namibia to adopt a baby, and that she was swindled by a Namibian who had put her in contact with the baby she was accused of kidnapping.Twelve days after her attempt to win her release on bail ended in failure Felicidade returned to court to plead guilty to the charges.With her sentencing yesterday Magistrate Kesslau remarked that it seemed that Felicidade’s aim with the kidnapping was not to harm the baby, but to replace her own child.Having lost a baby herself, she should have realised the hurt such an experience would have caused the baby’s parents, the magistrate said.’The anxiety experienced by the parents as well as the babysitter must have been terrible, to say the least,’ he said.Felicidade must have had some time to plan the offences, and also ample time to come to her senses, the magistrate said.He remarked that the loss of her own baby might have influenced Felicidade’s judgement.Still, the interests of society weigh heavily against Felicidade, he said.Her offer to pay a fine, which would save taxpayers from having to foot the bill for her stay in prison, is tempting, but in his opinion such a sentence would send the wrong sort of message to society, Magistrate Kesslau remarked.He sentenced Felicidade to three years’ imprisonment, of which eighteen months were suspended for a period of five years on condition that she is not convicted of kidnapping or assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, committed during the period of suspension.Public Prosecutor Phineas Nsundano represented the State.