MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — A woman was arrested early Tuesday morning at Miami International Airport after taking a crying 4-year-old from his mother, offering to help soothe the child, but then refused to give the child back, the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office said.
MDSO identified the suspect as Alvina Omisiri Agba, 23, of Luton, England.
According to employees for GlobalX Air, the incident happened around 4:30 a.m. at the check-in counter.
“One of the passengers had a child in her hands -- she was going to check in -- and at the check-in time, another passenger took the baby from the mother’s hands and wanted to take the baby from her, slammed the baby on the floor a couple of times,” GlobalX Supervisor Dayanis Ojeda said.
Ojeda said her colleague, Naylet Montano, then ran toward the woman after hearing the sound of screaming and grabbed the child from her.
“Once (my colleague) took the baby to the counter, the lady went inside the counter and we called 911,” Ojeda said.
The arrest report, however, does not state that Agba slammed the child on the floor.
According to the report, the boy’s mother allowed Agba to hold her son after she offered to help soothe him, but Agba then walked out of the line and away from the mother.
Deputies said the mother followed Agba and eventually saw her sitting on the floor, at which time she told her to give her back her son.
According to the report, Agba said, “No, this is my child,” and then wrapped her arms and legs around the boy, preventing him from moving.
Deputies said the victim tried to pull her son away from Agba, but Agba pushed the mother and then grabbed the boy’s legs, refusing to let him go.
According to the report, Montano heard the commotion and then grabbed the boy and walked behind the counter with him.
Deputies said Agba walked under the counter, yelling at Montano to “give her back her child,” but three men stood in between Montano and Agba to prevent Agba from getting to the boy.
Agba was eventually detained by deputies and claimed that she was just trying to soothe the child and remembered a wall that had a rainbow on it and thought it would help to take him to the wall, the report stated.
According to the report, Agba claimed to not remember what happened after the boy’s mother came to retrieve her son from her, but said that “she only did it because God told her to do it.”
Agba was arrested on charges of battery and interference with custody.
As of Tuesday morning, she was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $3,500 bond.
Local 10 News reporter Linnie Supall was told the boy sustained deep scratches to his neck, but was well enough to make his flight with his mother.
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