The Central Barracks, Port-Louis were seized of an investigation on an alleged case of child trafficking since this Wednesday morning of May 25, following a deposition by a Family Welfare and Protection Officer. The latter was put in the presence that a transaction took place at the Dr. A.G. Jeetoo Hospital, Port-Louis between a Terre-Rouge resident and a homeless woman (homeless). The latter, who gave birth to a boy on March 25, 2022, gave her child to the Terre-Rouge resident, who in turn gave her a sum of Rs 5,000 on a “humanitarian basis”.
This case broke out at the Dr Jeetoo Hospital on the same day that this money transaction was made in exchange for this baby. The Child Development Unit (CDU) of the Ministry of Gender Equality took the baby into its care and applied for an Emergency Protection Order in court.
On Monday, May 23, at approximately 1:30 p.m., a 42-year-old woman from the Vallée des Prêtres area showed up at the CDU office in Port-Louis. She was accompanied by her 49-year-old sister. She explained that her sister had met a homeless woman in her thirties who had given birth to a boy at the Dr. Jeetoo Hospital on March 25. On the same day, this woman gave her child to her sister, who offered her a sum of Rs 5 000, on a humanitarian basis.
The approach of the resident of Vallée des Prêtres in this case, she says, is to avoid her sister from any hassle with the authorities. For her part, the resident of Terre-Rouge told CDU that she agreed to take care of the child of this woman, who was unable to take care of her child financially.
