Wednesday
February 8, 2012
February 8, 2012
News
PHOTO/EMMA NZIOKA Two-year-old Nicolette Wanjiku is reunited with her mother, Gladys Wanja at the Kamukunji police station. Nicolette had been abducted by her nanny.
By LILLIAN ONYANGO laonyango@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Tuesday, February 7 2012 at 21:29
A two-year-old’s refusal to alight from a matatu saved her from being abducted. And on Tuesday her parents shed tears of joy when they were reunited with their daughter.
Like most working mothers, Gladys Wanja left her daughter in the trusted care of her house-help every early morning.
There was nothing different about that Monday morning and given that Purity Gaturi had been with her family for about two years, she had learnt to trust her. She, after all, had become family.
Gladys said her goodbyes but when she returned home at 7.30pm there was no one to receive her at her Embakasi home.
She did not get her daily dose of hugs and kisses from her daughter.
Two-year-old Nicolette Wanjiku was nowhere to be seen.
“Once I saw that the money I usually leave for use was not there, I knew something was amiss,” Gladys said.
She phoned her husband, Raphael Thuku, who immediately rushed home.
“Wanjiku was only two months old when Purity started looking after her,” Raphael said adding that when they made initial inquiries, the watchman confirmed that he saw them leave at 5.30pm.
The couple then reported the matter at the police station.
Unknown to them, by that time, their clever daughter had refused to play along to her nanny’s plan and it was her reaction which botched the abduction plans.
Purity had taken little Wanjiku from the house and boarded a matatu to town.
But when they arrived in the city centre, at the Commercial terminus, Wanjiku refused to alight from the vehicle.
The tout got impatient with the two, attracting the attention of Olivyer Ekapolon.
“I thought that as a woman, I would talk to her and find out what the trouble was,” Ms Ekapolon.Ms Ekapolon said when diplomacy failed, she forced Purity out of the matatu and kept a keen eye on the child.
When prodded, Purity removed a SIM card from her phone and swallowed it.
While Purity was kept in custody at Central police station, Wanjiku was taken to the Kamukunji station which houses a children’s desk where she spent the night awaiting to be moved to the Kabete Children’s home.
Tuesday morning, the worried parents reported back to the station. They were asked to go to Central police station were Purity was.
“They said we also had to get clearance to pick up our daughter at Kamukunji station,” Raphael explained.
And at 4.20pm the long wait was over as they were finally reunited with their daughter.
Deputy OCPD Central Yawa Chome said the police will be carrying on with the investigations to find out what Purity’s true intentions were.
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