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Midwife steals baby after failing to conceive child
The West Jakarta Police arrested a part-time midwife, who allegedly kidnapped a newborn baby boy at a community health center in Kembangan district, West Jakarta
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T
he West Jakarta Police arrested a part-time midwife, who allegedly kidnapped a newborn baby boy at a community health center in Kembangan district, West Jakarta.
West Jakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Abdul Kamil Razak said the police busted the perpetrator at her house in Gondrong subdistrict in Tangerang municipality on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
“The perpetrator, who has been married for three years, wanted to have a baby. This case has nothing to do with human trafficking,” he said.
He said the police had held a footprint test to ensure that the baby was Murtanti’s kidnapped baby.
Abdul said the woman would be charged for violating the children protection law and Article 328 of the Criminal Code on abduction, which carries 15 and 12 years in prison respectively.
When arrested, the woman told the police she gave birth to the baby, but tests confirmed she did not.
The tip-off came from the woman’s colleagues, Khulyatun and Lestari.
Khulyatun, who was the midwife who helped Murtanti deliver the baby on Jan. 8, received a text message from the woman the next day saying that the latter just gave birth.
“I told Lestari about this on Jan. 12. Lestari was suspicious and we decided to visit her Jan. 13,” Khulyatun said.
Khulyatun said she immediately recognized the baby she helped deliver when she saw him at the perpetrator’s house.
Governor Fauzi Bowo said he would reward the two midwives who had helped the baby’s search.
He said the city would install CCTVs in every health center that had laboring facilities and further tighten security.
“We want this case to be the first and last,” he said.
Health Agency chief Dien Emawati said CCTV procurement would begin soon.
“We will start at the end of January. I believe eight CCTVs will only cost around Rp 20 million [US$2,100],” she said, adding that regional hospitals would also be equipped with CCTVs.
She said previously the recruitment process for part-time midwives was only based on competency.
“No we will use a psychology test to ensure we employ trustworthy people,” she said.
Dien said she also ordered security guards to strictly apply the visit time regulation, saying that the kidnapping, which occurred at 6:10 p.m., breached the visit time.
The perpetrator, posed as a nurse, abducted the baby last Friday, 14 hours after delivery.
The kidnapper took the baby from Murtanti’s room on the pretext that he needed immunizing.
City police spokesman Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar said the perpetrator was pregnant last year, but had a miscarriage in August.
The perpetrator did not tell her families and friends and took maternity leave from December to March to convince them she was pregnant.
“She planned to adopt a newborn baby, but waited to no avail.”
The baby is being treated at Cengkareng Regional Hospital.
