Woman arrested for kidnapping of newborn lied about pregnancy to maintain relationship | Rio de Janeiro

Rio – Cauane Malaquias Costa, 19 years old, arrested for the kidnapping of newborn Ravi, in the early hours of this Wednesday (1st), at the Maria Amélia Buarque de Hollanda Maternity Hospital, allegedly lied about a pregnancy to avoid ending a relationship.

According to a report from the suspect’s aunt, who did not want to be identified, Cauane had an extramarital affair with a man, who had been married for 10 years, and did not want to end the relationship, which had already lasted five years. With that, she invented that she was pregnant so that the relationship could continue.

Months after inventing the lie, the young woman appeared with the baby at home, claiming to be the married man’s son. Family members also reported that Cauane has psychological problems and has a history of stealing objects.

At the hospital, moments before the kidnapping, the young woman told a nurse and other patients that she was the companion of a pregnant woman. According to delegate Mário Jorge, responsible for the investigations, Cauane said he accompanied a woman in a room that, in fact, was empty.

“She allegedly told some patients that she would be accompanying the patient in 307, but the room was empty, there was no one there. Suspicion immediately fell on that person.”

The delegate responsible for the investigations did not confirm the information that the woman had entered through the balcony of the maternity ward. According to him, Cauane had a daughter in the same maternity hospital in 2018. At the time of the kidnapping, the young woman managed to enter the hospital for the first time to visit a colleague.

“She [a Cauane] I heard that a friend had come to the hospital to have a baby yesterday for a photo and decided to go to the hospital and got there between 10:30 and 11 am to visit her colleague. According to her testimony, she actually visited this colleague, but was wandering around the hospital corridor. Around three o’clock in the afternoon, she passed by the ward and saw Ravi and became interested in this child”, explained the delegate.

After that, Cauane returned home and waited for nightfall. “Around 7pm, she returned to the hospital with three baby bags, including a stork bag, and around 1:30am, when the mother [do bebê] was sleeping, she took advantage of the nap, picked up the child and took it to her home”, said the delegate.

Mário Jorge also confirmed the family’s version that Cauane invented the pregnancy because of her boyfriend. The young woman also took photos of different parts of the hospital, to tell her family that she was admitted to have the baby she was supposedly expecting.

Major Andrade, superintendent of strategic social communication at the Pacification Police Coordination (CPP), spoke about the woman’s arrest.

“After wide publicity of the incident that occurred at the Maria Amélia maternity ward by the corporation, police officers were informed, through an anonymous complaint, that a child was in the possession of the accused and that it was not that person’s son. The agents went to the location and, upon arriving there , confirmed the existence of a child. After being questioned about the fact, she continued to deny responsibility. The police officers, aware of the complaint that already existed, took the suspect and the baby away,” he said.

According to the major, Cauane was pregnant and had recently lost a baby. Furthermore, there is evidence that she went to the maternity ward solely with the intention of kidnapping a baby.

According to reports from Cauane’s friends on social media, the young woman told lies about her pregnancy in the community where she lived so that everyone would believe in the existence of the baby. On one occasion, she even said that the child was “hidden in the ribs” to justify the absence of a belly.

Furthermore, it was also reported that the woman arrived in the community saying she had been discharged after the supposed birth quickly due to baby theft in the maternity ward.

The crime

The baby, named Ravi, was kidnapped from the Maria Amélia Buarque de Hollanda Maternity Hospital, in the center of Rio, in the early hours of this Wednesday (1st), while his mother, Nívea Maria, aged 27, and his grandmother, were sleeping in the unit’s infirmary, located on the third floor.

According to the corporation, the agents were informed of the whereabouts of the woman and the baby during patrolling in the Borel community. After searching, the two were found. Cauane was arrested and Ravi was taken to the maternity ward.

According to the child’s grandfather, Davi Figueira, it was the grandmother who noticed Ravi’s absence in the room after waking up from his nap.

“Nívea had just finished breastfeeding Ravi and placed him in the basket. This basket is between the bed and the companion’s bed. So my wife and my daughter were on the side. My wife went into a deep nap, they passed twenty minutes and when she woke up, Ravi was no longer in the basket. My wife said that everyone was asleep. Nobody saw anything”, said the child’s grandfather.