A person who works at a hospital in Kenya was caught by the BBC while trying to sell a baby. They have been given a punishment of being in jail for 25 years.
Fred Leparan, who was employed at Mama Lucy Kibaki hospital in Nairobi, was caught on camera receiving $2,500 (£2,000) for illegally selling a baby boy who was under the hospital’s protection.
He got caught in 2020 and was found guilty of selling children, not taking care of them, and planning to do more bad things together.
Selina Adundo, the person involved in the crime with him, was given a punishment of either six years in prison or a $2,000 payment.
An Africa Eye journalist pretended to be interested in buying something from Leparan. The reporter had heard from someone that Leparan, who works at the hospital, was involved in illegally taking children.
Leparan talked to the undercover reporter who was having trouble getting pregnant. Leparan didn’t ask many questions before agreeing to sell them a baby boy.
On that day, a baby boy and two more kids were supposed to move from the hospital to a government-run children’s home. However, Leparan was caught on camera changing the transfer documents to make it seem like only two children were coming instead of three.
A Kenyan court decided that Leparan will go to jail for 25 years. After that, he will be on probation for 10 years.
Adundo, who also worked at the hospital, was found guilty of not taking care of three children, but he was not found guilty of illegally taking children.
The court warned that Leparan and Adundo should not be allowed to deal with anything involving children.
This situation has continued for over two years even though there is really solid proof against Leparan.
He had one of the best legal defenses in Kenya, but he admitted in the secret video by the BBC that it was him.
There is not a lot of trustworthy information on how many children are being trafficked in Kenya.
Between July 2022 and May 2023, over 6,000 kids were reported as missing, as stated by the Minister of Labour and Social Protection, Florence Bore.
This week, Ms Bore announced that the government plans to get rid of all orphanages and children’s homes that are owned by individuals. This is because they want to stop child trafficking. They want to complete this process in the next eight years.
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