A preliminary investigations judge (GIP) in Cosenza has ordered the release of Moses Omogo Chidiebere, 43, who was arrested on Tuesday with wife Rosa Vespa, 51, over the abduction of a one-day-old baby from a clinic in the Calabrian city, judicial sources said Friday.
"My client was considered entirely reliable when he said he believed his wife was pregnant", said his defence attorney Gianluca Garritano.
"There are pictures portraying Moses while he kisses his wife's belly", said Garritano.
Garritano claimed Vespa had pretended to be pregnant with her husband prior to the abduction and had a "belly that made her seem pregnant".
"She even showed her husband a letter of dismissal from the clinic", he added.
Police late on Tuesday arrested Vespa, a Cosenza native, and her spouse of Nigerian origin over the abduction after an extensive, three-hour-long manhunt.
Vespa, who had reportedly pretended to be pregnant over the past nine months and had announced on January 8 the alleged birth of a baby boy, Ansel, posed as a nurse at the clinic and took away the baby from the mother's room, saying she needed to take her to see the clinic's paediatrician for a checkup.
Officers identified the pair thanks to surveillance footage inside the clinic showing them as they took away the baby.
When they broke into their home, they found the couple celebrating the baby's arrival with family.
They had dressed the baby in blue, investigative sources said.
Vespa had reportedly told relatives they couldn't visit the clinic while she was giving birth, claiming her baby had then been hospitalized longer due to a health issue.
The abducted newborn, called Sofia, was found to be in good health after a medical checkup and returned home to her parents and six-year-old brother on Thursday.
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