Judge warns woman against stealing another baby

 By DAPHNE WANI 
A JUDGE has warned a woman who admitted to stealing a two-month-old boy not to repeat the offence after suspending her two-year jail sentence and placing her on a good behaviour bond.
Justice Panuel Mogish yesterday warned Cathy Kini at the Waigani National Court not to steal another baby.  He said Kini’s case was serious because of the age of the child and the length of time she kept him away from his mother, Angela Guai.
Mogish said the child was kept away for 19 days.
He said Kini had betrayed Guai’s trust when she took away the baby boy.
However, the court took into consideration Kinis’ intention to have a child because she could not.
Mogish said Kini’s case should be a message to other women that there were proper ways to adopt children.
He cautioned them against stealing other mothers’ babies.
Mogish said Kini had suffered great pain and learnt a lot when she spent 10 months awaiting her court appearance while in prison. He said it was a rare case.
Mogish said there had been many such cases that went unreported and were believed settled out of court.
Kini from Kapari village, Abau in Central, told court last Thursday that Guai made a promise to her that she was going to adopt the child.
Guai allegedly asked her to take the child on Sept 16, for which she did.
Kini pretended to change the baby’s diaper and left with the child without informing the child’s mother of his whereabouts.
Three weeks later, Guai met with a relative of Kini and asked for the return of the child.