Woman Arrested For Kidnapping Her Boss’s Kids

ZAMBIA – A woman who stole her boss’s three children who were later found in Kapiri Mposhi has appeared in Court.

Mary Nakamba, 38, is charged with child stealing which is contrary to the Laws of Zambia. Particulars are that Nakamba allegedly disappeared with three children after informing the neighbours that she took them for under five.

The matter was reported to police and a manhunt was launched until Nakamba was arrested in Kapiri Mposhi district in Central Province. The nine-year-old girl was found in Kapiri Mposhi while the twins were at an orphanage within Ndola where Nakamba had allegedly dumped them.

When Nakamba appeared in court for trial, she denied working as a maid but said she was a street beggar who was given the children by their mother while she carried bottles of beer.

“I have never worked as a maid. She (mother of the children) met me on the streets when she was carrying bottles of beer and decided to leave her children with me,” she said.

However, 28-year-old Chileya Manda, who is the mother of the three children, told the court that she had employed Nakamba as a maid. Manda said on November 9, 2020, she left for work and the children remained with her elder sister Dorothy Matanda and Nakamba.

She said she came back home around 17 to 18 hours and only found her six-year-old child at home who told her that Nakamba had gone with the other children.
“I then called my elder sister who I stay with, and she told me that she had also been looking for them but couldn’t find them,” she said.

She said they decided to check through all the police stations but there was no sign of Nakamba or the children. Manda said the following day, she called Nakamba’s relatives who later told her to check for her at a whiteman’s orphanage on Kabwe road.

Manda said the whiteman confirmed that Nakamba had earlier taken the children to the said orphanage to ask for help but was no longer there. “He told me that she also went to social welfare to formalise the process but I managed to prove to him that I was the biological mother,” she said.

She said her child’s head teacher informed her that her nine-year-old child had been found in Kapiri Mposhi after being picked up by an unknown man. “I managed to pick my child who was in Kapiri and I got my twins the following day,” she said.

When asked if Nakamba was mentally stable the time she was employed as a maid, Manda said Nakamba had not exhibited any mental health issues during that time.

Magistrate Brian Simachela adjourned to January 7, 2021 for continuation of trial.