A Kisumu court has placed a 44-year-old woman on her defence after finding that the prosecution had presented sufficient evidence requiring her to answer to charges of allegedly stealing a three-year-old child.
The accused, Lenah Kadika Amayu, is charged with trafficking in persons contrary to Section 3(1)(d), as read with Section 5 of the Counter-Trafficking in Persons Act, 2010.
Alternatively, she faces a charge of child stealing contrary to Section 174(A) of the Penal Code. She is also accused of stealing assorted household items belonging to the child’s mother, contrary to Section 268(1), as read with Section 275 of the Penal Code.
The prosecution, led by Principal Prosecution Counsel Catherine Onyango, told the court that Amayu and other individuals who have not been brought before the court allegedly stole the child from the mother’s custody on November 25, 2025, at Nyalenda Sub-location in Kisumu Central Sub-County, Kisumu County.
Amayu denied the charges, prompting the prosecution to call four witnesses and present exhibits in support of its case before Chief Magistrate Denis Kipkirui Mikoyan.
The complainant, who is the mother of the missing child, told the court that Amayu had sought refuge at her home on the eve of the incident.
She said she did not know the accused before the incident but was convinced to accommodate her after Amayu gave detailed descriptions of how they supposedly knew each other through their church.
According to the complainant, Amayu told her she would leave the following day after someone sent her bus fare.
On the morning of November 25, the complainant left the accused with her child after Amayu offered to babysit while she went to work.
However, when she returned home, she discovered that Amayu had disappeared with the child.
She subsequently reported the matter to the police, leading to the accused’s arrest.
An investigating officer who testified in the case told the court that Amayu had previously been charged alongside other suspects at the Winam Law Courts in Kisumu over a similar child-stealing offence. The child involved in that case was eventually recovered.
In her submissions, Onyango argued that the latest allegations were not an isolated incident, pointing to the accused’s previous case and her alleged association with another person accused of a similar offence.
“It is our submission that this is not an isolated case. The fact that the accused was arrested for another case of child stealing and is also known to be friends with a person who has also been accused of the same offence demonstrates that the purpose for such acts must be for exploitation,” Onyango submitted.
After considering the evidence presented by the four prosecution witnesses and the exhibits, Magistrate Mikoyan ruled that the prosecution had established a prima facie case against Amayu.
The court consequently placed her on her defence, paving the way for her to respond to the allegations.
The ruling does not amount to a conviction. The accused remains presumed innocent as the trial proceeds.
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