A New Zealand couple are thanking their stars today, after police successfully rescued their 11-day-old baby after she was kidnapped.
According to reports, the tot was snatched from a house in Epsom in the early hours of yesterday morning, by two women.
A wide-scale search was launched, and police thankfully were able to rescue to the baby and reunite her with her parents around six hours later.
Police went on to confirm that they had arrested two women, aged 18 and 21, respectively. They are set to appear in court today, facing charges of kidnapping and burglary.
The detective investigating the frightening incident, Inspector Scott Beard, said the child’s parents were understandably traumatised in the aftermath.
“This has been an extremely harrowing time for the new parents of a very young baby,” he said, in a statement.
“We are relieved and thankful that the baby was not harmed and has been reunited with her parents.”
Police are still looking into the circumstances surrounding the kidnapping, and were unable to release further details ahead of the court appearance, at Auckland District Court.
David Seymour, an MP from the unnamed family’s community, described the incident as ‘unbelievable’.
“It is difficult to imagine a more harrowing thing that could happen to parents, especially of a newborn baby,” he said, describing the parents as ‘distraught’.
“Clearly, they have been targeted by someone pretty sick.”
The story comes just a week after a toddler died, after reportedly wandering off as her family dined at a restaurant, in the Spanish town of Pizzara.
Little Lucia Vivar Hidalgo, aged three, was sadly found dead close to train tracks, shortly after she went missing.
Authorities believe the tot had wandered off and got lost, then set down beside the train tracks when she grew tired.
Her body was found near the tracks, about seven kilometres from where she was last seen. Medics determined that she died from brain trauma, after enduring serious head injuries – believed to have been inflicted by a passing train.
In a world of so much tragedy, we are so grateful to hear that the newborn baby in this report was safely reunited with her parents.
