A woman is facing a charge of child-stealing in the Half-Way-Tree Resident Magistrate's Court after allegedly abducting a child she formerly babysat, with the intention of using the child to get money from her boyfriend.

Presiding magistrate Judith Pusey was told by prosecutors yesterday that Shauna Kay Patterson, whose address was not stated, was frequently paid by the female complainant to babysit her two-month-old child. On one occasion earlier this year, the complainant asked Patterson to pick up the child from a day care centre and to bring the child to the complainant's home.

The court was told that after doing the pick-up Patterson allegedly took the child to Newlands in Portmore, St Catherine to the house of her boyfriend, where they stayed for an unstated number of days.

The court was also told that prior to taking the child home, Patterson told her boyfriend, whom she had previously fallen out with, that she was pregnant and needed some money from him to assist with medical expenses.

It was not immediately clear whether Patterson told the boyfriend that the child belonged to him or to someone else.
However, the prosecution said the boyfriend became overjoyed by the prospect of the child and proceeded to give Patterson an unstated sum of money.

Some time afterwards Patterson allegedly turned up at the boyfriend's house in Newlands where they both began to take care of the child.

The court said that after several unsuccessful attempts to contact Patterson the complainant then went to the police and made a report. With the combined efforts of the police and Patterson's aunt, the child was successfully retrieved and returned to the complainant. Patterson was later arrested and charged with child stealing.

When the complainant appeared in the Half-Way-Tree Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday, she told RM Pusey that she did not wish to continue with the matter, having retrieved her child in good health. An annoyed Pusey responded by telling the complainant that she would not allow the matter to be dismissed due to the nature of the allegations and also due to the amount of work initially put out by the agents of the state involved in the matter.

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