- The suspect is accused of receiving the money from a BBC journalist.
- Leparan is jointly charged alongside Adundo who is also a social worker at the hospital.
Image: FILE
A witness has narrated to court how a social worker at Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital pocketed Sh300,000 in illegal sale of abandoned babies at the hospital.
Milimani law court was told that one of the accused persons, Fred Leparan Makallah, who is a social worker at the hospital, pocketed the money from a British Broadcasting Corporation journalist.
Peter Murimi, a director and producer of the film "The baby stealers" aired on BBC, told the court that Sh300,000 was put on the table at the request of Leparan.
He said Lepran took the money by pulling the three bundles of Sh100,000 each on the side of the table next to him.
In the case, Leparan is jointly charged alongside Selina Awuor Adundo, who is also a social worker at the same hospital. They have denied five counts of child theft and a child trafficking syndicate.
"The fact that Fred does not even have confidence to receive the cash, being proceeds of sale of a child...confirmed that he understands the illegal nature of his dealings," Murimi said.
Lawyer Robison Kigen is holding brief for BBC which aired the child theft at the Mama Lucy Hospital.
The witness told the court that Leparan didn't want the interested party to get into the hospital to collect the child as he acknowledged that it will raise suspicion.
He said that when the baby was being delivered to the interested party to a car waiting outside the hospital, Leparan did not want a lot of chatting and expressed concern that his co-workers would become suspicious.
"This underlines our point that Fred knew that what he was doing was highly illegal," Murimi said.
"This also clearly confirmed that Fred is directing the transfer of the child to a supposed black market buyer under the guise of a legitimate transfer...."
He told the court that Fred had already identified a child which he believed he could steal and nobody could have noticed. The court heard that Fred recognised that the proposed sale was illegal.
(edited by Amol Awuor)