Mystery surrounds the abduction of a seven-week-old baby boy, allegedly by two women, one of whom injected the child’s vulnerable mother with a substance in the neck, and made off with her young unregistered baby in bushes in Drax Hall, St. Ann a week ago.
Thirty five year old Annmarie Karram of Rocky Hill, Retreat Content in St. Mary, had gone to St Ann last week Monday, November 24, to meet a woman with whom she had been in communication earlier that day and who offered to help her with the registration of her baby, Akeem Karram.
The mother of five, grateful for the help, said she had only $200 when she set out for St. Ann’s Bay. When a woman of Indian descent who she thought was a Good Samaritan, paid her fare as she got off the taxi in Drax Hall, the unsuspecting mother thought the help she was about to receive was genuine.
Shortly after her baby was taken in dramatic circumstances, and news reached national media, tongues have been wagging about what really happened to the child and the mental state of the mother.
HIGH ALERTS
o far, there has been no response from the public regarding a high alert which has been issued by the police as they seek to locate the missing baby. Last week, police in St. Ann said they were actively investigating the case and had appealed to anyone with information on the missing baby to come forward. According to reports from the St Ann police, about 12:30 p.m. On Monday, baby Akeem was allegedly taken from his mother when she visited Drax Hall Estate near Mammee Bay in St Ann. The police say the mother was in communication with a woman who had made contact with her and who lured her from her home in St. Mary to Drax Hall, between St Ann’s Bay and Ocho Rios where her child was allegedly stolen. When North Coast Times visited Ms Karram’s home in Retreat Content last weekend she said she was still at a loss over the situation and has no idea why she and her baby were targeted. She dismissed reports that she is mentally unstable and that she took the child to Drax Hall and sold him. “Miss, me don’t mad, me never tek no medication fi mental problems yet, me no mad and me no fool fool,” she told The Times. She said that people were only talking although they knew nothing about her situation. “Me woulda never sell me baby, me love me baby and me woulda never sell him, me no carry him go sell him,” she said, tears streaming down her face
She explained that she started communicating with a woman who sent a message through a taxi operator. She said the message was first sent to another woman in the community, also named Annmarie. However, she said when that woman called the number she realized that the message was not meant for her and so she sent the telephone number to Ms Karram.
Ms Karram said when she called the number the woman with whom she spoke enquired if she had registered her baby and if she had taken him back to the hospital. The baby was admitted in St. Ann’s Bay on October 21 for three days and Ms Karram said although doctors didn’t tell her what was wrong with him she believed he had the Chik V. She said the woman told her that she needed to get the child registered and that there was a paper for her to sign and she needed to visit the clinic. “Me tell har sey him alright and him no suppose to go back a no hospital and she ask if him registered and tell me sey there is a paper fi me sign and me need to go to the clinic. Me ask har. Which clinic, if a out a Retreat and she sey, me affi come a Ochi, so me start get myself and the baby ready,” she related. She agreed to meet the woman in Ocho Rios. When she got to Ocho Rios and called the number, she said the woman enquired where she was and told her that she was at a particular doctor’s office. Ms Karram said the woman told her to take another taxi to Drax Hall and gave her instructions where she should get off and said somebody would be waiting on her.
SECURITY
“Me go because me never think sey no wickedness involve or that dem woulda thief me baby,” she told The Times. She said that when she got to Drax Hall a woman of Indian descent, wearing dark glasses, was waiting and that the woman paid her fare. She said the woman spoke to the security at the estate gate and soon after she was on the property. “Me Neva really ask har weh di paper deh or anything cuz she sey we ago walk go down deh so, so while we were walking I saw a fat lady and she had two bags and she stop the Indian lady and beg har a call and the Indian lady give har the call.” She explained that along the way the Indian lady told her that the journey was far and that they were going to take a short cut and that the fat lady knows the way. She said they stopped along the journey because the Indian woman wanted to urinate and she had to feed the baby. She said at one point the fat woman asked if she could hold the baby and was playing with the child. It was while at the resting area she said she was injected and that the Indian woman ran off with the baby and the fat woman behind her still holding the needle saying she was going to inject the Indian woman. Ms Karram told the North Coast Times that she didn’t lose consciousness as reported by the police. She said she asked the woman why she injected her. She claimed when the women ran off she started to cry out for help but no one was in sight. She said she ran back towards the security booth, which was some distance away, and told the female guard that they injected her and took the baby. Ms Karram said the secuirty guard didn’t make much of her story and she had to walk from Drax Hall to St. Ann’s Bay where she reported the incident to the police. “The police dem a sey me mad becuase thru me walk from there (Drax Hall) to the police station and me did hot and sweaty and almost out a breath, that’s why them think me crazy, but me no crazy,” she explained. Ms Karram said she would never harm any of her children. She has four other children ages 17, 14, 13 and 5. The three younger children, two girls and a boy, live with her, their maternal grandmother and three uncles in Retreat Content, at a family house. The eldest child lives in St. D’Acre with relatives. “I tek good care of my children and the same way dem one yah come a di same way the baby woulda come, him wouldn’t suffer because me family help me with them,” she said. She said her three younger children all have the same father and explained that the father takes care of his children. Asked about the father of the stolen baby, Ms Karram said since she told him of the pregnancy he has not been around and she has been on her own. She explained that the child was born at home on October 8, because she couldn’t get to the hospital in time. She said a nurse came to the house immediately after birth and ensure that they were both ok. She said she has not yet attended six-week clinic for the baby to get his injection or medical checks. She also said the nurse returned sometime after to check on the baby after she called her expressing concerns that the baby might be suffering from Chik V. She said after that visit by the nurse who gave her a piece of paper to take to the hospital, the baby was admitted.
DIFFICULTY SLEEPING
Further, Ms Karram said she has not yet registered the baby because he was born at home and she had not got around to register him. She said he is called Akeem but she has two other names written down which she said would have been his correct name. The woman said she missed her baby and since he was stolen she is having difficulty sleeping. She said she loves the baby and all her children and she wants whoever has him to return him to her. “I am asking whoever have me baby to just bring him back, don’t hurt him, bring him back please,” she said. She said she cares for her children and she wants them to return the favour when she gets older. Other family members have also dismissed reports that Ms Karram sold or gave away the child. They say she was tricked by the women and they too want the baby to be returned. “No Sah, him nah sell him baby, a trick dem trick har and thief the baby,” her brother Wayne Blair told The Times. Ms Karram said she has never approached anyone about taking any of her children and she has never considered giving up any for adoption. “I have no need to give weh my children, I never tell anybody that I want to give dem away, I just want whoever tek me baby to bring him back so I can get to hold him again.”
