Be careful who you leave your child with.
Irene Capuno, a 31-year-old mother, found this out the hard way when she left her 11-day-old baby with a friend to use the restroom at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral last Wednesday.
Local newspapers reported the kidnapping yesterday as police called for the public’s help in finding the kidnapped child and suspect Shera Jane Quizon.
“We’re conducting an investigation, and we want to know what the motive of the suspect was in taking away the baby,” Ryan Devaras, chief of the Cebu City Investigation and Detective Management Branch, told Cebu Daily News.
But according to a report in newspaper SunStar Cebu, Capuno said Quizon’s friendship may have been a ruse motivated by the baby the whole time.
Capuno, who is from Danao City, about 47 kilometers north of Cebu City, said that she was already pregnant when Quizon befriended her several months ago.
“I was seven months pregnant then. She noticed my bulging tummy and asked right then and there if she could have my baby. I refused but she continued to befriend me,” Capuno told the newspaper.
Capuno said Quizon began to confide in her and claimed that she was also pregnant. “I was happy for her when she told me that she was carrying a child. I never expected that she would kidnap mine,” said Capuno.
Capuno told local media that it was Quizon’s idea to take her to church in the city to “give thanks” for a healthy baby.
Before they were supposed to go home to Danao, Capuno had to use the bathroom and thought she could trust Quizon to watch her baby.
“She used the comfort room first and afterwards offered to carry my baby while I went inside the comfort room,” she said.
“When I came out of the toilet, she (Quizon) and my baby were gone,” Capuno added.
According to Cebu Daily News, there were no CCTV cameras outside the bathroom, but they were able to find footage of Quizon entering the church with Capuno.
Devaras asked the public to report any leads or information to the Cebu City Police Office.
And for what it’s worth, if you’re pregnant and a new friend’s first instinct is to ask for the child you’re carrying, you may just want to go ahead and find another friend.
