Justice Lekan Olatawura of the Ekiti State High Court has sentenced a 37-year-old woman, Deborah Ayeni, to 14 years in prison in absentia for child stealing and subsequently declared her a fugitive on the run.
The judge handed down the sentence after Ayeni’s sureties failed to produce her in court following the testimony of four prosecution witnesses during the trial.
According to the prosecution, Ayeni allegedly lost a pregnancy around May 2025 and, in an attempt to conceal the loss and preserve her marriage, told her husband, who is based abroad, that she was pregnant and due to give birth.
The prosecution told the court that Ayeni invited her husband to return to Nigeria for the delivery and allegedly used clothes wrapped around her stomach to create the impression that she was pregnant.
“She thereafter went to a hospital in the Okeyinmi area of Ado-Ekiti and stole the said baby from the complainants. She then gave the baby to a midwife for care after lying to her husband that she had buried the placenta upon questioning. It was the midwife who noticed the anomalies in her activities and informed the police, leading to her prompt arrest,” the prosecution told the court.
Following her arrest and detention at the Correctional Centre in Ado-Ekiti, Ayeni was granted bail in the sum of N2 million, with two sureties required to provide recognisance in the same amount.
She presented her father, Babatope Ayeni, and another individual as sureties. However, after being released on bail, Ayeni stopped appearing in court.
On one occasion, her counsel told the court that she could not appear because she had allegedly been abducted by unidentified assailants. The court subsequently revoked her bail after she repeatedly failed to appear.
Delivering judgment, Justice Olatawura directed the court registrar to forward copies of the judgment and a letter to the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, the Nigeria Police Force and the media, formally declaring Ayeni wanted and calling for her arrest.
The judge ordered that the 14-year prison sentence should take effect immediately upon her arrest.
The court also sentenced Ayeni’s two sureties, including her father, to six months’ imprisonment each for failing to produce her in court and failing to pay the required recognisance fees, in accordance with the Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Ekiti State, 2014, as amended.
