The sentencing of the medical assistant, who had pleaded guilty to snatching a day-old baby from the University Hospital of the West Indies last December, was cancelled and her guilty plea withdrawn on Friday in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court, after it was established that the court did not have jurisdiction to deal with the case.

Consequently, the matter was transferred by Chief Parish Judge Judith Pusey to court six for a committal hearing on May 11.

The accused, Lorna Williams, who remains in custody, was not present. However, Judge Pusey further varied her bail so that she could take it up in her own surety. The bail was recently reduced from $300,000 to $200,000,

Williams, 47, was arrested and charged with forcible abduction after the baby, who went missing from the hospital, was found in her possession in Rollington Town, Kingston, on the same day.

According to a news release from the hospital last year, the baby was taken from a cot adjacent to her mother’s bed.

At the time of the baby’s disappearance, the hospital said the only people on the ward were nurses, doctors and other medical staff who were making clinical rounds.