A student nurse accused of attempting to kidnap a premature baby from a hospital neonatal ward had duped her husband into believing she was pregnant, a court heard.
Safia Ahmadei wanted a child ‘who could pass for her own after faking a pregnancy’ and repeatedly entered the ward at the hospital where she was on placement, where jurors were told she befriended the baby’s mother by offering her blankets for the infant.
The ‘Increasingly desperate’ 36-year-old had told her husband she had given birth to twins weeks earlier and ‘needed to produce a baby’ after claiming one of the infants had died, the prosecution said.
Ahmadei then allegedly attempted to snatch the newborn after entering the ward in her student nurse’s uniform, covered by a coat.
In a police interview she said she was separated from her husband but was still married to him.
The 36-year-old is accused of attempting to kidnap a premature baby from a hospital neonatal ward after tricking her husband into believing she was pregnant (file image)
Opening the case on Tuesday, prosecutor Seamran Sidhu said: ‘The prosecution say she was not just being friendly to the baby’s mother. She was not just visiting the baby to bring blankets and be kind.
‘She may have wanted to dupe her husband and others into believing she was pregnant. She needed to produce a baby somehow.’
Ahmadei denies one count of attempting to kidnap the baby at New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton, between February 12 and 14.
Ms Sidhu said the defendant separated from her first husband and went on to marry again but the couple struggled to conceive.
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Ahmadei is said to have told her second husband she was pregnant with twins and was due to give birth in December 2023.
Ms Sidhu said: ‘December came and no babies arrived. That’s because she was not pregnant.’
The University of Wolverhampton student allegedly lied to her husband and said she had given birth in mid to late January. But she claimed one of the twins had died because it had been starved of oxygen.
Jurors have been told that issues such as miscarriage and grief are likely to be mentioned during the trial.
Wolverhampton Crown Court previously heard how Ahmadei allegedly ‘scouted out’ babies during multiple trips to the hospital’s neonatal ward while donning her student nurse’s uniform.
She allegedly plotted to kidnap the newborn from the unit after taking a ‘particular interest’ in the baby and quizzing the infant’s mother on their ‘racial heritage’, jurors heard.
Ahmadei was said to have repeatedly strolled into the ward despite being told to leave, even returning after eventually being suspended.
She also purchased items for the newborn ‘ready for when she had the baby’, the prosecution alleged.
The court heard that when police were called and searched her, officers found baby clothes and a baby comforter on her. More baby clothes, still with their tags on, a passport and £1,500 cash were found in her car.
Nurses on the unit are said to have given Ahmadei repeated warnings not to come to the unit after confronting her.
The defendant – who was on placement at the hospital but not in the maternity ward – told one nurse she was ‘just passing by’ after visiting the resources department.
Ms Sidhu said: ‘That department was on the other side of the hospital so she would not have been just passing by.’
She also claimed she was a friend of the infant’s mother and that she was there to give the baby blankets. Ahmadei was suspended by her university and told not to go to the hospital once concerns were raised with police, the court was told.
Safia Ahmadei wanted a child ‘who could pass for her own after faking a pregnancy’, and was becoming ‘increasingly desperate’ after telling her husband she had given birth to twins weeks earlier, jurors were told. Pictured: Wolverhampton Crown Court
But just hours later she returned to the ward and was arrested. In her interview with officers, Ahmadei said she had an ‘interest in maternity’ and wanted to work in that department once she had completed her degree.
She confirmed she had spoken with the baby’s mother for about 30 minutes, discussing their backgrounds and family. But she said the mother had complained of her baby being cold so wanted to give her a ‘gift’ containing baby blankets on the day of her arrest.
In a second interview, the mother-of-two said she had separated from her husband but was still married to him. She claimed she went to the hospital despite being told she was suspended from her nursing course to apologise to the baby’s mother.
Ahmadei, of Wolverhampton, said she had no intention of kidnapping the baby and was just being ‘friendly’.
The trial continues.
