The love between a parent and their child knows no bounds.
While parenting styles have evolved over time, the caregiver’s essential role as protector, provider, and teacher remains virtually unchanged throughout history.
Most parents spend countless restless nights worrying about the well-being of their children, and the thought of any harm coming to them is the stuff of nightmares.
But, for some, it’s a very different and disturbing story.
Chilling accounts describe cases where caregivers have become the source of a child’s suffering, committing acts of abuse so horrific they seem ripped from the script of a twisted horror film.
Recently headlines have been plagued by disturbing stories of parents trying to sell their children.
Earlier this year a mother was caught attempting to sell her newborn baby to pay for lessons on baking pastries.
And, in 2019, another woman tried to sell her children because they were ‘an obstacle for dating men’.
But, whether motivated by greed, status, or convenience, one thing’s for certain; the decision to give up a child in exchange for cash represents the ultimate betrayal of parental instinct and duty to humanity.
Mother sells baby to start a business
Shocking footage captured the moment a mother was arrested after trying to sell her two-year-old son for £18,000 in Ukraine.
The woman, 20, from Dnipro, reportedly wanted to use the money ‘to start her own business’.
The unnamed mother was detained when the buyer handed her cash last year, according to the country’s national police.
Shocking footage captured the moment a mother was arrested after trying to sell her two-year-old son for £18,000 in Ukraine
The woman, 20, from Dnipro, reportedly wanted to use the money ‘to start her own business’. The unnamed mother was detained when the buyer handed her cash last year, according to the country’s national police
A video shows a police officer counting the money, and the detained mother being handcuffed.
A social worker is seen carrying the child to a waiting car to take the boy into care.
Last week it was announced that the woman had been convicted of human trafficking against a minor, and imprisoned for eight years.
‘According to her, she did not want to take care of her son, so she decided to get rid of him,’ said a police statement.
The buyer was known to her, it was alleged.
‘She planned to open her own business with the money she received.
‘The crime was documented by the police departments of the migration police and the investigative department of the Main Police Department in Dnipropetrovsk region in cooperation with the criminal analysis department.’
The child was initially sent to doctors and is now in the care of social services.
‘She found a potential buyer, to whom she offered to hand over the minor for a cash payment of one million [Ukrainian] hryvnias [£18,000/$23,960],’ said the Dnipropetrovsk prosecutor’s office.
The woman has pleaded not guilty.
Woman says children obstacle for dating
A Russian woman was arrested in 2019 amid claims she tried to sell her children ‘because they were an obstacle for dating men’.
Rasulzhan Kyzy Barnokhon was caught after she tried to sell a week-old baby for £11,500 in the Russian capital, Moscow, police and activists said.
Barnokhon, who was 23 at the time, had come to the capital from the south-western city of Ufa and met her buyers, who collaborated with the police.
After receiving the equivalent of £11,512 for her one-week-old daughter, Barnokhon was arrested.
A Russian woman was arrested in 2019 amid claims she tried to sell her children ‘because they were an obstacle for dating men’. Rasulzhan Kyzy Barnokhon (pictured) was caught after she tried to sell a week-old baby for £11,500 in the Russian capital, Moscow, police and activists said
Barnokhon, who was 23 at the time, had come to the capital from the south-western city of Ufa and met her buyers, who collaborated with the police. Pictured: Barnokhon with her children
Police said this was the second time the mother had tried to sell her children.
She was said to have made her first attempt six months prior – on that occasion trying to sell her older daughter, who was just one.
At the time, Barnokhon, who was already pregnant with her third child, posted a message on social media saying: ‘Looking for adoptive parents for a one-year-old girl. Moscow.’
The message was spotted by activists at NGO ‘Alternativa’ who fight human trafficking.
They responded to the post and found out that Barnokhon was going to sell her child.
Alternativa activist Yulia, who pretended to be a buyer, said: ‘She [Barnokhon] said that she met a man online and wanted to date him.
‘But before that, she wanted to sell her children who, according to her, were an ‘obstacle for dating men’.
‘She was not interested in the further fate of her children and told me that ‘after the deal is done, we do not know each other’.
After receiving the equivalent of £11,512 for her one-week-old daughter, Barnokhon was arrested
According to activists, Barnokhon had changed her mind and refused to sell her daughter after being talked out of the deal by her relatives.
But six months later, after giving birth to her third child, Barnokhon contacted Yulia, it is claimed.
Russian Investigative Committee spokeswoman Yulia Ivanova said: ‘The criminal case on attempted sale of a minor was initiated against the 23-year-old. The suspect faces up to five years in prison if found guilty.’
A statement on the official website of the Russian Investigative committee said: ‘The woman wanted one million rubles for her newborn child.
‘On March 5, when she was in Moscow, she received the money and handed the baby to a buyer. She also wrote a note confirming that she had received the money for the baby.
‘During the police interrogation, the suspect admitted to the crime. There are no threats to the baby’s health.’
Newborn sold to pay for cooking course
Earlier this year a mother attempted to sell her newborn baby to pay for lessons on baking pastries in a horrifying case of alleged human trafficking, according to police.
The Brazilian woman and three other people were arrested after police narrowly saved the 27-day-old baby from the bizarre sale in the city of Goiânia, about 560 miles north of São Paulo.
Police said they were tipped off to the attempted sale by neighbors of the woman, who also planned to use the undisclosed amount of money to help pay rent.
Earlier this year a mother attempted to sell her newborn baby to pay for lessons on baking pastries in a horrifying case of alleged human trafficking, according to police
The Brazilian woman and three other people were arrested after police narrowly saved the 27-day-old baby from the bizarre sale in the city of Goiânia, about 560 miles north of São Paulo
The woman, who was reportedly suffering postpartum depression, allegedly set up the deal through her boyfriend, who is not the father of the child.
The boyfriend and his roommate set up the sale of the child on behalf of a local businesswoman, who was looking for a child. It was unclear what the buyer planned to do with the child.
The business woman, who owns an ice cream shop, has denied the accusations and said she was temporarily babysitting when police took custody of the child.
A Brazilian news outlet, however, obtained a text message exchange from the woman outlining what type of baby she was looking for.
‘Find a ‘big-breasted’ woman to give me the child,’ the businesswoman wrote. ‘If it’s a boy, even better. If it’s black, even better.’
Authorities learned that the businesswoman had previously signed up in the past to adopt a child with the National Adoption Registry, but was not on a waiting list.
‘The mother confessed, she told the whole story that they actually offered her a sum of money to hand over the baby, because with the money she was going to pay the rent in the other place where she was going to live and she was going to take a cooking course,’ Goiás Civil Police chief Humberto Teófilo told Brazilian news outlet G1.
Teófilo said the mother was expecting to receive payment in the coming days.
The baby was turned over to child protection services and later placed under the care shelter.
Florida woman tries to sell daughter to stranger
A Florida woman was arrested for trying to sell her daughter for $500 outside a local store – and then abandoning the child when confronted by an employee.
Police said Jessica Woods, 33, was loitering around a H&R Block office in Palatka with her 18-month-old daughter, who had a bruise on her face, in March 2024.
An employee of the business told police that Woods had first come into the establishment at 7:40pm one evening because her baby had a soiled diaper.
A Florida woman was arrested for trying to sell her daughter for $500 outside a local store – and then abandoning the child when confronted by an employee. Police said Jessica Woods (pictured), 33, was loitering around a H&R Block office in Palatka with her 18-month-old daughter, who had a bruise on her face, in March 2024
As Woods used the H&R Block restroom to change the child, the worker witnessed the mother hit her daughter with her elbow and then spank her, according to the probable cause affidavit seen by DailyMail.com.
The next morning, the witness arrived back at the office and found Woods sleeping on top of the outside air conditioner unit – and the 18-month-old was sleeping near her in a shopping cart without a blanket.
The employee confronted the mother and asked if she or the child needed any help, the affidavit said.
Woods demanded money – and when the employee said she would buy her items but not cough up cash, Woods became ‘enraged’ and threw her child.
Later in the day around 2pm, the witness said Woods crossed the busy street and went over to talk with her. She put the baby down on the ground, near some grass.
The 18-month-old began to crawl towards a busy road, the police document stated.
The worker picked up the baby – and it was at this point that Woods allegedly offered to sell her daughter for $500.
As Woods used the H&R Block restroom to change the child, the worker witnessed the mother hit her daughter with her elbow and then spank her, according to the probable cause affidavit seen by DailyMail.com
According to the affidavit, the woman said she would not give her any money. Woods then replied: ‘You can have the b*****d.’
When the employee refused to buy the toddler, Woods walked away and abandoned her child. The worker took the child into H&R Block, and cleaned her up.
‘Jessica did not return to take custody of [the child],’ the affidavit read.
The employee took the 18-month-old to the Palatka Police Department and told them what happened.
According to the Palatka Police Department, Woods is known to have frequented the area.
Officers and the Department’s Victim Advocate provided care to the child until the Department of Children and Families took custody of her.
The child has since been placed in foster care.
Woods has been charged with child abuse, child neglect, abandonment of a child and selling a minor for money.
She was located and arrested on March 7 and transported to the Putnam County Jail.
Her bond was initially set at $255,000 and court documents appear to show she was ordered to have no contact with her victim.
Child missing after being sold
A South African woman was convicted earlier this month of kidnapping and selling her 6-year-old daughter in a case that horrified the country.
Joshlin Smith disappeared in February 2024 and still hasn’t been found.
Her mother Kelly Smith, along with her boyfriend Jacquen Appollis and their friend Steveno van Rhyn, have been found guilty of human trafficking and kidnapping.
A court heard the child, who vanished from outside her home in Saldanha Bay, near Cape Town, had been sought by a ‘healer’ for her ‘light eyes and skin’.
A South African woman was convicted earlier this month of kidnapping and selling her 6-year-old daughter in a case that horrified the country. Joshlin Smith (pictured) disappeared in February 2024 and still hasn’t been found
Her mother Kelly Smith (pictured), along with her boyfriend Jacquen Appollis and their friend Steveno van Rhyn, have been found guilty of human trafficking and kidnapping
In the days after Joshlin disappeared, local media reported that neighbors accused her mother, also known as Racquel Chantel Smith, of selling her for just over $1,000.
During the first week of her trial, the court heard from a local pastor who said that he heard Kelly, who has three children, talk about selling them for 20,000 rand, which is the equivalent of $1,100.
Lourentia Lombaard, Kelly’s friend and neighbor, said that in the days before Joshlin disappeared, the mother confessed to her that she had sold her child to a ‘sangoma’ – a traditional healer.
Lombaard said she later saw Kelly pack some of Joshlin’s clothing into a black bag, which she was carrying when she met a woman she believes was the sangoma.
Kelly climbed into a white car with Joshlin and the sangoma, according to Lombaard, and they drove away.
Lombaard said ‘the person who took Joshlin wanted her for her eyes and skin’. It was unclear why the sangoma wanted a child with these features.
A woman believed to be the sangoma was arrested alongside the other defendants last year, but the charges against her were dropped due to a lack of evidence.
Sangomas are recognized in South Africa under the Traditional Health Practitioners Act of 2007. It is believed they can access ancestral spirits who guide their healing.
Joshlin is still missing despite a major search operation involving police, firefighters, city authorities and specialized sniffer dog units around the family home.
Police said children’s clothing had been recovered last weekend near the settlement of small houses and shacks where Joshlin lived. It was sent to a laboratory for forensic examination.
Community members who are also involved in the search said the clothing was spattered with blood and a knife was also found. Police didn’t give any more details on what was discovered.
Prosecutors said in court documents released in March that Kelly Smith and the others conspired to abduct Joslin and intentionally sold, delivered or exchanged her.
The suspects face a sentence of life in prison if convicted of the main charge of human trafficking.
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .