Judge dismisses kidnapping case against fake nurse

CEBU CITY — A call center agent who posed as a nurse to enter a government hospital here and stole a newly born baby last January has been ordered released from jail.

This after Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Ester Veloso yesterday ordered the dismissal of the kidnapping and illegal detention case against Melissa Londres due to the failure of the police and the complainants to attend the court hearings.

Veloso ordered the release of Londres and the dismissal of the cases because authorities have failed to sustain the case. The judge said both the arresting policemen and the complainants failed to attend the scheduled court hearings related to the case.

The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) 7 had filed charges against Londres, a call center agent who posed as a nurse and stole a two-day-old baby at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center.

Londres first told the police that the baby was her own and that she gave birth in a taxi. She later admitted to stealing the baby because she wanted to have a child of her own.

A CCTV camera installed inside the hospital recorded Londres, in full nurse’s uniform, taking the baby out of the medical facility. The baby was rescued by the police and returned to his parents.

Meanwhile, authorities are set to file charges against a flight attendant who allegedly kidnapped a one-month-old baby in Barangay Sambag Uno, Cebu City.

The suspect, Michelle Collamar, said she desperately wants to have a child of her own after suffering two miscarriages. Psychiatrist Dr. Rene Obra, however, said the suspect, an international flight stewardess, may have been suffering from postpartum depression.

The police, however, said that even if the mother of the baby will not testify against the suspect in court, they will still file charges against her because kidnapping is classified as a heinous crime.