A 37-year-old woman, Deborah Ayeni, has been sentenced to 14 years imprisonment by an Ekiti State High Court in Ado-Ekiti for child stealing and declared wanted as a fugitive.
Justice Lekan Olatawura handed down the sentence after Ayeni’s sureties failed to produce her in court following the testimony of four prosecution witnesses.
The judge ordered the court registrar to forward the judgment and a letter to the Controller-General of Customs, the Nigeria Police and the media for Ayeni’s apprehension.
He ordered that the sentence should commence immediately she is arrested.
Olatawura also imposed six months’ imprisonment on Ayeni’s two sureties, including her father, Mr Babatope Ebenezer Ayeni, for failing to produce her and pay the required recognisance fees.
The judge had earlier revoked Ayeni’s bail after she failed to appear in court.
The prosecution said Ayeni was arraigned on Sept. 1, 2025, and pleaded not guilty to stealing a newborn baby from Mustapher Aliu and his wife, Falmata, in Ado-Ekiti on Aug. 4, 2025.
Prosecutor Ibironke Odetola said Ayeni had allegedly lost a pregnancy in May 2025 but deceived her husband, who lives abroad, into believing that she was pregnant and due to deliver.
She allegedly travelled to a hospital in the Okeyinmi area of Ado-Ekiti, where she stole the baby and later handed the child to a midwife for care.
The midwife reportedly noticed inconsistencies in Ayeni’s account and alerted the police, leading to her arrest. The child was later rescued alive by the police.
Ayeni was granted bail in the sum of N2 million with two sureties in like sum but later failed to appear in court, claiming through her counsel that she had been kidnapped along the road.
The prosecution said her father, one of the sureties, appeared once in court but could not account for her whereabouts.
The offence is contrary to Section 292 of the Criminal Law of Ekiti State, 2021.
