TRUE LIFE STORY-MY KIDS

TRUE LIFE STORY: HOW MY NANNY KIDNAPPED MY KIDS

I write this letter with a heavy heart as the 15th day of October 2011 still remains my most dreaded day in my entire existence. It appears to be a day I would never forget. Not for good reasons anyway but because that was the day I thought I had lost all my children. Such experience I cannot recount without shedding tears.

What you are about to read in the coming paragraphs is a true life account of how my lovely children were all kidnapped by a nanny I employed. This also serves to enlighten nursing mothers and the general public at large about the dangers of not verifying the authenticity of a staff before bringing them into your home or organization.

I had just gotten promoted at work. Although this came as good news to me and my family, I knew this also meant more work for me. The previous position I held really demanded so much of my time. I had to travel several times in a month for meetings and presentations, sometimes up to 7 times. It affected my availability at home but I couldn’t complain like I should especially because my salary was a whopping 6 figure, and in addition to my husband’s salary, we were able to lead a good life and have a great home.

The needs of our kids were adequately catered for; they attended a great school, they had summer trips outside the country during their vacation, got the latest toys and had massive birthday parties. It was really a good life for my family and so when the promotion came, we all celebrated knowing that my salary had almost been doubled. However nobody else except my husband knew the entirety of this promotion.

A lot of my friends and well-wishers didn't know this would press even more demands on my family time. Prior to when this promotion news came, my husband and I were currently working on a strategy to create more family time. We knew the dangers of being scarce to our kids and so we both decided to draw up schedules and a working strategy to ensure we create more family time.

Did I mention that I had 4 beautiful kids? 3 boys and a girl, with the last being a girl. I loved my children, most especially my last baby being the only girl amongst them. I loved all they stood for and represented in my family. They could feel this love by the way I and my husband constantly showered them with many gifts.

With this new promotion, I felt the need to employ the services of a nanny, someone who could stand in my stead while I and my husband were at work, especially because my kids were still small and couldn’t do a lot of things by themselves. We never really liked the idea of getting a maid as we had in time past, heard stories about how they had scattered many homes.

I had my younger sister around for some years. This was the period before I was promoted. She stayed at home with my kids while I went to work however, I couldn't be a hindrance to her destiny seeing that she had just gained admission to study Law in a federal university (name withheld). My kids were very fond of her. I was fond of her too. She really made life easy for me and my family.

Indeed, I was grateful to God for her. Time came when she had to leave for school (another state), and so, it became urgent to get a help. I am usually a thorough person. I am a no nonsense person that loves to check all loopholes. I pay attention to details (which explains my continuous promotion at work) that's why it still baffles me how I could have carelessly employed the services of a nanny that ended up kidnapping my children.

I applied for a week leave from work to sort out this "maid crisis" that had beset me. Personally I was certain I wouldn't be getting a young maid, maybe because I had also heard a lot of negative stories about some atrocities these kids/teens committed. I put word out to my close friends and family informing them that I needed the services of a female nanny.

3 days into my leave with no candidate was forthcoming, I was really nervous. I tried to get one of my relatives to come spend some time but none was available, not even from my husband’s side. I became pretty desperate. By Monday I would need to resume work yet this was Thursday evening, still no candidate.

Friday morning I got a call from a friend saying she saw an advertisement of an available nanny. Wow! Good news. I was excited. I invited her over for a brief interview. She got to my house some minutes after noon and then the interview began. 

She was a light skinned lady, probably in her mid 40s. If I could take a wild guess, she was not more than 5ft7 inches. She hails from one of the south southern states of Nigeria. We spoke extensively for a considerable length of time. I asked her salient questions which were bothering me, and to be honest, I was happy with the responses she gave, she seemed to know her onions well enough.

Deep down, I was excited I had gotten an ideal nanny just at the nick of time. By the time my husband got back from work, we spoke extensively about the nanny. Somehow, we were grateful to God for answering our prayers just at the nick of time. We both retired to bed with a wide smile on our faces.

The next day, I invited her over and announced to her that she had gotten the job. She was so excited and couldn’t hold her joy. I was also excited too but had to comport myself. She resumed work immediately (my first error). I was so eager to put her through the house curriculum seeing that I had just 2 more free days left before my leave would be over.

It didn’t occur to me to properly verify all the information she told me. I was just too excited. This was the genesis of my woes. How could I have made this grievous mistake that have now cost me my precious little angels...How?

Monday came with me feeling excited and nervous. Excited because I had finally gotten a good nanny, and nervous because I had never left my home in the cares of a total stranger. Anyway, I got up by 5am to start my preparation. Lo and behold my new nanny was already up, fixing up the dishes.

Ahh! What a God sent nanny I exclaimed silently. There was no need to wake her up or tell her what to do. Maybe she came with a "user manual" I thought to myself. Time came for me to leave for work and to my surprise my kids were also prepared, just seating patiently waiting for their school bus. I left for work very excited... (Only mothers would understand this joy).

While at work I kept calling at intervals to know if everything was alright. By 5pm I called again to know if the school bus had dropped off my kids, as this was the usual practice. Okay yes! I agree. I was tensed! But somehow the positive answers I got whenever I called to know if everything was alright made me start feeling relaxed and comfortable. This routine continued every day and my confidence waxed stronger.

Months went by and I had fully accepted my nanny as one of us. She was so homely and dutiful. She knew everything to do at the right time. In return, I treated her well, increased her salary and bought her nice things whenever I went shopping for my kids. The acceptance she received from my family especially my kids was second to none. I would never have thought anyone would be dissatisfied with such level of kindness and love we had shown to her. Never!

Once, she travelled with my family to Abuja for vacation. Our next trip was to Dubai and we had planned to take her along seeing she had been so nice. We kept this as a secret from her for the time being. It was meant to come as a surprise to her. 8 months into her service as a nanny with my family, I received the biggest shock of my life - my kids were all gone, I mean…all my kids! How?

I recount how one day at work, I received a call from a distant friend trying to give me an advice about my home. I almost did not want to pick her call but somehow I did. She tried warning me about my nanny saying she had heard her gist from a friend. I wouldn't even spare 2 minutes listening to this trash after all for the past 8 months, I have never had any cause to believe otherwise about my nanny. How stupid I was...If only I had listened, my kids would never have been kidnapped.

I had a business meeting with my company top directors across Africa slated for Thursday. This meant I had to travel on Wednesday, to return on Friday. I always hated the thought of travelling without my family but there was really nothing I could do, the meeting was so crucial.

Everything in my home had already been put in place in preparation for my trip. I felt a bit weird about this particular trip. Not that it was my first trip leaving my nanny alone with the kids and my husband. Something just felt weird. I said a little prayer, kissed my husband and kids goodbye and headed for the airport. I arrived 4:30 pm and went straight to my hotel. I settled in then called my husband to know the condition of the home. Everything was fine. I heaved a sigh of relief.

I think I called 3 more times before I eventually slept. I had my meeting the following day, everything went well. I called my nanny again to know if all was well and she replied in the affirmative.. Everything seemed fine on Wednesday and Thursday. Friday was when the whole drama began.

Friday, my return flight was for 1pm. This made me hang around the hotel the whole morning just waiting for time to pass. I spoke with my nanny that morning and everything seemed fine- the kids were in school and my husband at work. I called my nanny some minutes after noon while having lunch to ensure all was okay and she replied in the affirmative again just that this time, her voice was a bit shaky and nervous.

It didn't ring a bell to me so I concluded all was well as usual. My mind was actually on the fact that I was returning home that day. My phone was on flight mode although 1pm to 8pm and so I couldn’t really confirm if my kids were back from school. Immediately my flight touched down, I turned on my phone with the intention to call my husband and ask where he was. The plan was to come pick me up from the airport.

What I saw when I turned on my phone was rather disturbing. It was a message from my husband asking if I had permitted the kids and the nanny to go on holiday somewhere. That question seemed very vague to me because I wasn't aware of any holiday. Quickly I dialed his number to confirm if the message was a mistake. His response sent cold shivers down my spine.

He went further to explain that he got home and found that there was no one at home, not the kids, not the nanny. Ahh! Where are my kids? Was the first question I asked while throwing my luggage to the ground? Still at the airport, I called the school to confirm if the kids were dropped at home and their response was positive. I called the nanny's number and for the first time, it was switched off. With tears rolling down my eyes, I called the security guard asking if he had seen my kids. He replied that he saw them alighting from the school bus and entering another vehicle with the maid, which he thought I was aware of. Entering another vehicle to where? I shouted!

I took a cab and hurried down home. My husband was tensed, I was super tensed also. By the time I arrived home, it was some minutes to 10pm. My husband and I got into one of our cars and headed straight to the police station. We filed a complaint but were told to wait for 24 hours before being declared a missing case.

By the next morning, while calling and asking everyone we knew if they had seen our kids, a call came in from an unknown number asking if I was the mother of 4 kids and if they were missing at the time. Immediately I started screaming over the phone, shouting 'Yes' multiple times.

The voice over the phone asked me to come to a location at Ibadan to identify if the kids were mine. Instantly, we got the police involved and went with a few of them to the exact location that was described only to see the most unpleasant sight.

My kids were seated on a wooden bench, looking so untidy and unkempt; my nanny on the other hand was also tied along with 3 other men and covered with bruises. The voice over the phone who appeared to be the leader of a vigilante group began narrating how the nanny and 3 other men were accosted on their way to Port Harcourt.

While driving to Port Harcourt, the car which the criminals took broke down and so they had no choice but to park along the road and try fixing it up. As all these were happening, the kids were bound hand and foot in the boot with their mouths also tied.

When the nanny and 3 men were approached by the leader of the vigilante who was on a patrol duty, they looked uneasy and began fidgeting. You could tell there was something fishy with the way the responded to the vigilante’s questions.

The vigilante suspecting something was wrong asked them to open their boot. They struggled and argued but wouldn't oblige. Luckily, more members of the vigilante group came to the scene. Being out numbered and over powered, these 4 criminals decided to run away, leaving their car and the kidnapped kids behind.

They were pursued and caught, then forced to open the boot. What was seen next was the sight of my 4 beautiful kids all bound. The kids were set free. The leader of the vigilante then asked my kids if they knew any of our numbers. My eldest boy knew my number and so he gave them. That was how I was called.

After much torture, the 4 criminals revealed that they were a group of kidnappers that went about securing the trust of parents to gain entrance into their home for a period of time before carrying out their intentions. Exactly what my distant friend was trying to draw my attention to but I never listened.

This group would kidnap children from homes and schools, take them far away to their hideout in Port Harcourt state for ritual purposes.

The police troop we went with asked me some questions as to how the nanny got employed, and what verification method I used before confirming her appointment. That was where I turned blue. I realized that the fault was actually from me because in a bid to hurriedly get a nanny, I didn’t bother to take out time to confirm if truly all the nanny had said was genuine.

I was more than excited to have my kids back; there was no way I was going to stand the thought of losing all my kids in one day. The criminals were apprehended and handed over to Ibadan police force. My husband and I were then lectured for another 20 minutes on the dangers of employing staffs without a proper background check. Actually, I never knew anything like that ever existed. On the spot, I swore never to employ any staff without running a proper verification.

Dear Friends it wouldn’t cost you much to start verifying your staffs.

Don’t fall prey like I did. Stay Guided!