Drama in London Court: Childless Nigerian couple awarded stolen baby

A Nigerian couple who could not bear children after years of marriage received were relieved on Thursday in a London High Court when Mr. Justice Coleridge ruled that the couple could keep a two-year-old baby they allegedly took from Nigeria even though DNA tests had confirmed they are not the biological parents of the girl.
According to the mother, she was deceived by a Nigerian doctor into believing that she had delivered while sedated, after she went to Nigeria for In-Vitro-Fertilization treatments.
The local authority had claimed the couple’s story was a “charade”.
But Justice Coleridge in his verdict ruled they were victims of an “appalling scam”.
The London-based couple said after several In-Vitro-Fertilization (IVF) treatments for the woman to take in proved abortive; they decided to come to Nigeria in 2010 to undergo fertility treatment at an undisclosed hospital.
The couple were said to be “desperate and distressed”.
The couple returned to the shores of England after the woman’s supposed “delivery”, with the baby, and passed it as theirs but their GP (General Practitioner—medical doctor) said otherwise.
As a result of the GP’s inquisition, the child was taken into care and a DNA test proved the child was not related to the couple. But the couple insisted that the baby came through their blood.
Justice Coleridge who described the case as ‘extraordinary, bizarre and worrying,’ ruled that the couple, whom he said were of “high calibre,” awarded the parents custody of the child, ordering the local authority to return the baby to them within seven days.
He said: “Our concern has been, and continues to be, what is in the best interest of this young child.
“We will now do all we can to ensure the child continues to thrive.”
Elsewhere, some charities have expressed concerns that the judgment will have a wider negative effect and will encourage traffickers.
Speaking on the development, Chief Executive of Children and Families Across Borders, Andy Elvin, said: “These unscrupulous people will exploit people for vast amounts of money.”
He added that: “Behind every one of these children lies an actual birth mother. She has been coerced; she may have been kidnapped or raped.
“These children are not given up willingly.” There have been several cases of baby scams in Nigeria. Some motherless babies’ homes have been known to trade away the children in their homes for varying sums of money, depending on the age and sex of the baby. Some other homes have also been accused of quartering young girls, getting men to impregnate them with the understanding that they will not lay claim to the children they bear. Many of such children are eventually sold to desperate couple who are unable to naturally bear children of their own.” Elvin lamented.
DailyPost