Woman Steals 2 Babies To Replace ‘Dead Twins’ For Child Dedication In Delta

The Delta State Police Command has uncovered a shocking case involving a woman who allegedly stole two infants after her own ‘twin babies’ died, all in a desperate bid to conceal the tragedy from family and friends ahead of a planned child dedication ceremony.

The Command’s Public Relations Officer, SP Bright Edafe, disclosed the details in a video shared on Facebook on Tuesday, where witnesses and the suspect spoke while facing away from the camera.

Speaking in the video, SP Edafe lamented the circumstances surrounding the abductions and renewed calls for parents to be more vigilant about their children’s safety.

“I am SP Edafe Bright, and this is the Delta State Police Command. I remember one time the command did a video about how parents should be watchful and mindful of their children. The police cannot be everywhere at the same time whether we accept that as a reality or not,” he said.

According to him, the case came to light after the command received a disturbing report about a missing four-month-old baby allegedly taken by a woman who pretended to be a customer.

“About three days ago, we had a very disturbing report about a woman who came in and said she wanted to buy groundnuts. While they were looking for the groundnuts for her, she somehow misled the 14-year-old who was holding a baby and she went away with a four-month-old baby,” Edafe said.

He revealed that the suspect had allegedly been scouting for children weeks before the latest abduction and had successfully stolen another infant earlier.

“Prior to the abduction of this child, she had done it a week ago or two weeks ago thereabout. She went to a roadside person that sells tickets and told her that she’s asking about a house help. She established a relationship with the 18-year-old girl that had a child. Then one day she said, ‘Let me help you carry this baby and buy sweets from there.’ She ran away.”

Expressing disbelief at the circumstances that enabled the crimes, Edafe questioned how parents could entrust their babies to strangers.

“Tell me how a mother would give her child to a stranger to carry a three-month-old child. She was trying to manufacture twins in her own way. She kept them in her house in Uzere,” he added.

During interrogation, the suspect, who identified herself as Joy, confessed that she resorted to stealing the children after allegedly losing her own twin babies.

According to her, she had given birth to twins, but tragedy struck when the children were just six weeks old.

“I got pregnant and had twin children. When they were one month and two weeks old, I left them to go to the market. Before I came back, they had used cold water to bathe the twins and they both died,” she said in pidgin English.

Joy explained that her husband had already invited relatives, friends and well-wishers for the children’s dedication ceremony before the twins died.

“My husband had already invited people for child dedication, so I decided to steal two children, a boy and a girl,” she confessed.

The suspect further admitted that she abducted the first baby about three weeks ago and later stole the second child on Saturday because the dedication ceremony was scheduled for the following day.

“I stole the first baby three weeks ago and later stole the other one on Saturday because the dedication was on Sunday,” she said, adding that the stolen children had already been dedicated before her arrest.

Reacting to the confessions, SP Edafe expressed shock at the bizarre circumstances surrounding the case.

“There’s no end to what we will not hear. In this my public relations job, some of the things we hear are so exhausting that you will begin to think,” he said.

The police spokesman used the incident to reiterate the importance of parental vigilance, warning against leaving children in the care of strangers regardless of how trustworthy they may appear.