What you need to know:
- Dr Ramadhan is the third medic to be cleared after Dr Emma Mutio, the current chief executive officer, and Dr Regina Musembi, an administrative officer, were acquitted last November.
A third former top medic at the Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital has been cleared of charges in a child trafficking case that rocked the facility last year.
Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Noordin Haji has dropped charges against Dr Musa Mohammed Ramadhan and turned him into a state witness.
Dr Ramadhan is the third medic to be cleared after Dr Emma Mutio, the current chief executive officer, and Dr Regina Musembi, an administrative officer, were acquitted last November.null
“I have been instructed to terminate the case against Dr Ramadhan. There is no evidence linking the accused to the child trafficking syndicate,” State prosecutor Evalyn Onunga told Milimani Senior Principal Magistrate Esther Kimilu on Monday.
Ms Onunga said the accused, who had been charged alongside social workers Makalla Fred Leparan and Selina Adunda Awuor, will be a State witness in the case.
“There being no evidence to link the accused to the human trafficking syndicate, I allow the DPP’s plea and terminate the case against him,” Ms Kimilu ruled.
The magistrate also ordered the return of the money the doctor had given as cash bail.
Defence lawyer Hassan Nandwa did not object to the DPP’s request to terminate the case against Dr Ramadhan, who was the deputy director of curative and rehabilitative services at the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS).
“We will not sue the State for malicious prosecution,” Prof Nandwa told the Nation in an interview after the acquittal.
Following the ruling, Dr Ramadhan knelt and bowed his head in prayer outside the courts.
“I have forgiven those who framed me,” he said.
Advocate’s testimony
At the commencement of the trial against the two social workers (Leparan and Selina), advocate Brian Kimeu Muia narrated how he and his friend Morris Nguyo Muli discovered a day-old baby boy he named “Taji” crying in a shanty along Outering Road, where he had been dumped by his mother.null
Mr Muia told Kimilu that he initially thought the cries were a cat’s but found a baby boy wrapped in a shawl and placed inside a carton box when he checked.
“I took the child and proceeded to the Savanna Area Nyumba Kumi official. We informed him about the recovered child,” he said.
“We later took the child to Savanna police post where we were advised to take himo Mama Lucy, where I handed him to Mr Leperan,” Mr Muia testified.
He said he then wrote to Dr Ramadhan as he wanted to adopt the boy.
“I was told the child was admitted to the children’s ward. I never saw him again,” he said.
Cross-examined by defence lawyer Danstan Omari, the advocate said he did not know and had never heard of child trafficking claims against Mr Leparan.
Both Mr Leparan and Ms Awuor have denied charges of trafficking in persons between March 1 and November 16, 2020.
Ms Awuor has been charged with neglecting her duty by failing to prevent Mr Leparan from illegally taking a child out of Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital between April 30 and May 12, 2020.
The two were charged following an exposé by BBC Africa Eye, on a gang of organized criminals who have been stealing children from homeless mothers and selling them for as little as Sh45,000.null
Mr Muli corroborated the advocate’s account of events.
The hearing continues.
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