How a nanny faked her pregnancy before staging chilling crime
A nanny who faked her own pregnancy before kidnapping a baby girl has been jailed for three years.
Manukau-Togiavalu, who had earlier faked a pregnancy and wore a pretend baby bump at a staged baby shower, was on Tuesday sentenced in relation to a kidnapping of an 11-year-old baby in Auckland on August 9 last year.
Nadene Faye Manukau-Togiavalu, 21, and her cousin, Sydnee Toulapapa, kidnapped the newborn girl from her home for a few hours in 2017, Stuff.co.nz reports.
The 21-year-old was paired with a couple via a nannying service. Manukau-Togiavalu agreed to help the couple in evenings.
The father stayed up the first two nights with Manukau-Togiavalu but on the third night he fell asleep.
He woke the next morning to the 21-year-old telling him he’d been robbed.
He also found his daughter was missing from her cot and ran out onto the street to look for her.
The little girl’s distressed parents watched CCTV showing a woman dressed in a balaclava walk up the home’s back steps and taking the baby girl. The father described it as “like watching something from a horror movie”.
About seven hours later, police found the baby alive. The mum of the baby described it as “the worst seven hours” of her life.
It later emerged the 21-year-old had arranged for her cousin to kidnap the little girl.
Manukau-Togiavalu was sentenced to three years’ jail on Tuesday, convicted of criminal harassment, kidnapping and burglary.
The 21-year-old’s criminal harassment charge stemmed from her relationship with a man in 2016.
The court heard during this period she harassed the man after he ended their relationship.
Toulapapa was sentenced earlier this year and escaped conviction but was ordered to pay NZ$2000 reparation and perform 400 hours community service.
