MALAMULELE – A resident of Phaphazela Village, Sylvia Ntlemo (24), will spend the next five years behind bars. Her theft and abduction case was finalised in the Malamulele Magistrate's Court on Tuesday.

The case relates to an incident that took place at the Malamulele Hospital on April 5 this year. The court heard that, on the day of the incident, a certain woman gave birth to a baby boy at the Malamulele Hospital. She left the baby on the bed and went to bath. On her arrival back at the bed, she was shocked to see that her baby was nowhere to be found.

She then reported the matter to the nurses who were in the ward. Almost everybody in the ward was engaged in the search for the missing baby. Realising that their efforts were not bearing any fruit, they decided to go and enquire from the main entrance gate.

The security guards at the main gate told them that a certain woman who was carrying a crying baby on her back had passed through the gate. The woman took the footpath leading to the taxi rank. Ntlemo was then followed and arrested at the taxi rank.

At that stage, she was still carrying the baby on her back. She appeared in court the following day. She was not asked to plead and the case was postponed to Tuesday, June 8. She was found guilty on the charge of theft of the child and kidnapping. She was not given any option to pay a fine