A Nigerian mother allowed a
British couple to register as her new baby's parents in bid to get free NHS
care and secure a UK passport for the child, a court heard.
Oluwaseun Adenubi, 30, also
pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation after using the passport of her
friend, Rita Ogunkunle, 32, to obtain free medical care after giving birth to
Moses.
Ogunkunle and her boyfriend
Michael Adebambo, 46, registered the baby as theirs at Bromley Civic Centre the
following day and have now pleaded guilty to giving false information.
Staff at Farnborough's
Princess Royal University Hospital realised the medical records of Ogunkunle,
who had received acne treatment, conflicted with the patient claiming to be
her.
'The probation service are
there to report what they have been told and they say they don't believe a word
of it and neither do I,' added the judge. Prosecutor Alexandra Bushell told the
court:
Prosecutor Ms Alexandra
Bushell told the court: 'Maybe there was a motivation to secure the nationality
of the child as a British citizen and free NHS treatment.
'After the baby was born on
June 20 staff realised something was not right because Ogunkunle has severe
scarring, which the baby's mother did not have and there were two different
blood types for the same patient.'
Adenubi was granted a family
visit visa which allowed her to stay in the UK for up to six months and claimed
that she found Ogunkunle's passport on a bench, Croydon Crown Court heard.
But when Ogunkunle was
arrested in August, she claimed Adenubi took her passport after moving into her
spare room.
The couple have now fallen out
with Adenubi over the conflicting claims about the passport.
Ms Bushell said: 'She admitted
falsely registering the birth of the baby and said she had been introduced to
Adenubi by a friend of her mother's and took pity on her because she was
pregnant and had no friends.
'She told police she was angry
at Adenubi using her identity and tried to beat her to it by registering the
child.
'[Adebambo] said his
girlfriend asked him to go to the register office to register a birth and said
she told him she did not want another woman to use her identity.
'He said he did it out of love
for his girlfriend and was very remorseful.'
'[Adenubi] claimed she was
fleeing a violent partner in Nigeria and claimed to have no family here and no
contact with her family in Nigeria.
'She said she arrived with
nowhere to go and met a Nigerian man at the airport and others via a church,
but had no details of those she stayed with.
'She claimed to have found
Ogunkunle's passport on a bench and only used it to get free medical services.'
The offences, contrary to the
1911 Perjury Act, carry a maximum sentence of seven years 'penal servitude'.
Judge John Tanzer said: 'The
probation service think this is a Nigerian plot to use the 'International
Health Service' and then take further advantage.'
All three were bailed until a
date to be fixed.
Culled:dailymail
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