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Nyore Madzianike Senior Court Reporter

A RUSAPE woman, who recently grabbed headlines after kidnapping two babies in Harare before taking them to her husband claiming she had given birth to them was yesterday jailed for eight years.

Enitor Marumane was initially jailed for five years for each child she kidnapped before Harare magistrate Mrs Ruth Moyo suspended two years of the sentence on condition of future good behaviour after her release.

On May 21, 2013 Natasha Chikwanha gave birth to a baby boy at Zengeza 3 Clinic, Chitungwiza.

After about three weeks, she started developing a chest problem and visited Chitungwiza Hospital where she was referred to Sally Mugabe Hospital for further examinations and treatment.

On June 13, 2013 Chikwanha visited Sally Mugabe Hospital for some treatment before being discharged the same date.

Because of the chest pains, she could hardly walk and ended up lying on the ground near the Red Cross office, with her three weeks old baby close to her.

Marumane, who had visited the same hospital with intent to kidnap a baby, saw Chikwanha lying with her baby on the ground.

She then approached her and started enquiring on where she was going.

Marumane then volunteered to assist by carrying the baby since Mrs Chikwanha had indicated that she was going into Harare City Centre.

At around 1pm, Mrs Chikwanha and Marumane took a commuter omnibus to Market Square rank in the city centre and there Marumane requested Mrs Chikwanha to accompany her into Gulf Complex, saying she wanted to collect her cash.

As they were going upstairs, Mrs Chikwanha opted to remain downstairs saying that she was not feeling well and could not walk up. Marumane then gave Mrs Chikwanha US$2 to buy herself a drink.

As she was buying the drink, Marumane took advantage and vanished with the baby and took him to Rusape where she lied to her husband Noel Gutu that she had given birth to a baby boy.

On June 13 this year, Mr Gutu was not satisfied with his wife’s explanation on how she gave birth and reported the matter to ZRP Rusape after she had failed to provide a birth record.

Marumane also stole another baby from Martha Ndinodyeyi who had given birth to a baby boy at her place of residence in 2015.

On June 23, 2015 at around midday, Mrs Ndinodyeyi was at Cater House, Mbare, selling sweeping brooms when she was approached by Marumane.

Mrs Ndinodyeyi was then told by Harare City Council officials to relocate to another place for her vending activity.

At that time, her then two months old child began to cry and Marumane volunteered to look after the baby.

As Mrs Ndinodyeyi was relocating to another vending site, Marumane then disappeared with the baby.

She was only arrested in June this year after Mr Gutu notified the police about the babies and DNA results confirmed that she was not the biological mother of the two babies.