A 50-year-old woman of Nurney Village, East Berbice Corentyne appeared virtually at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court Wednesday charged with the offence of child stealing.’
Patricia Gomes known as ‘Beverly’ was arrested on July 3 by the Police in Berbice after she was found with a baby girl that was reported missing by her mother in March.
She appeared before Magistrate Crystal Lambert and was not required to plea to the indictable charge.
She was remanded to prison and is slated to re-appear in court on July 24.
Gomes had told investigators that the mother of the then nine-month-old baby asked her to take the baby to a hospital outside of the Cuyuni/Mazaruni District, Region 7.
At the time, both women were employed as cooks at Quart Stone, Backdam in Cuyuni and the mother would usually leave the child in Gomes’ care.
Gomes had told the Police that the baby’s mother, who is a Venezuelan national, gave her the baby’s birth certificate and other documents as she journeyed from Region 7 to the capital city and visited the Georgetown Public Hospital with the baby.
At the Georgetown Hospital, the doctors there treated the toddler and reportedly told Gomes to take her regularly to the clinic for further check-ups.
Gomes told Police that the mother was supposed to collect the baby girl three days later but she never showed up and so Gomes took her to her Nurney Village house.
Gomes told the Police that she tried calling the mother repeatedly but her cellphone went to voicemail.
