According to reports, an unnamed 20-year-old woman in South Africa has pleaded guilty to trying to sell her baby through an online forum last October 16.
The unnamed woman posted an ad on a South African forum called Gumtree, which said, “Hi, my name is anonymous from Pietermaritzburg (Pmb). Selling my 19 months old baby for ZAR 5000.” (edited)
The baby that was put up for sale was found to be a 19-month-old boy. She was asking roughly Php16,000 for the child.
The woman posted the ad last October 11, but Gumtree immediately flagged the post and took it down.
Later, on the same day, the ad came up again, but was posted under a “baby car seat” title in the Baby and Kids section of the website. A user saw the advertisement and flagged it again.
Authorities then investigated the posts and conducted an entrapment operation, where an agent posed as a buyer and paid for the child.
According to reports, the child was allegedly handed over “as is,” with no intowards signs of health problems.
Was she the mother of the child?
Earlier reports pointed to an effort to find the child’s parents. But after investigation and testing, it was found that the woman who put up the child for sale was his own mother.
South African police have removed the child from the mother’s custody. In an interview with News24, the mother allegedly said, “I admit that my actions were wrongful, unlawful and intentional. I have no defense.”
Reports have allegedly said that she was selling her child online because of financial reasons.
(photo source: dreamstime)
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