Woman Fakes Pregnancy, Snatches Baby From Hosptial
A New Zealand woman faked being pregnant for nine months before snatching a newborn from a hospital and walking out the door to a getaway car. Fortunately, a nurse followed her outside and intervened but only after being alerted by the girl’s parents.
Hey, maybe Beyonce and Jay-Z were actually onto something when they brought their own security team to the hospital. Just kidding (sort of). But, really, this is horrifying. According to reports, Neha Narayan, 24, has been charged with abduction and could face up to seven years in jail if convicted.
Police say Narayan faked her pregnancy for nine months, then told her partner she was overdue and needed to be taken to the hospital to be induced. He dropped her off at Middlemore Hospital nice guy, huh? and she then spent hours wandering through the birthing unit. According to reports, Narayan picked up a one-day-old baby and then called her partner to say she was ready to be picked up.
That’s when Narayan left for the parking lot, where her partner and another person were waiting. Police say both people in the car truly believed that Narayan had actually been pregnant. (Too bad they had no clue that you don’t check in to a hospital for induction and leave a few hours later with your newborn.)
Earlier that day, a different mother found Narayan holding her two-year-old baby, reports Stuff.co.nz. When confronted, Narayan told the woman she was simply comforting the baby, who had been crying. Narayan then went to another room, where a hospital staff member, assuming that she was the mother, handed her the one-day-old baby she ultimately walked out with.
This is a story straight out of a TV show but luckily, in this case, the baby snatcher never made it off hospital property. Thank goodness! Such a terrifying thing to even think about. Not sure what type of security measures, if any, this hospital had but it’s at least reassuring to know that most hospitals in North America give mother and baby matching ID bracelets (in many cases, electronic ones). It also helps explain why, minutes after my firstborn came into the world, I wouldn’t even let my husband pop his head out the door to announce the news to our parents; I kept repeating, “You can’t leave the baby!” over and over again like a crazy person (never mind that baby was actually in the room with me but, hey, I was all drugged up!).
Neha Narayan appeared in court and was remanded on bail; she’s do to appear in court again later this month. We’ll be watching to see what happens.
(Photo: Jupiterimages)
