A 25-year-old man from Hanover was recently arrested when he attempted to return a one-year-old baby who had been in a vehicle he allegedly stole earlier in the day.

Information reaching THE STAR indicates that one day last week, the man, with the child in hand, approached a group of policemen who were on patrol in a section of the parish known as Great Valley. He is reportedly claimed he found the child on the roadway.

After initial questions, the police urged the man to accompany them to the divisional headquarters in Lucea, where he would submit a formal report.

When there, the police, however, found out that it was possible that the man was not a good Samaritan as they thought.

Reports are that his description matched that of an armed man who robbed a couple of their Toyota Corolla motor car just about an hour earlier at another location in the parish.

suspicious

The police became even more suspicious when it was further reported that the robber sped off with the couple's young child in the vehicle.

Under reasonable suspicion, the man was held and the couple alerted and asked to come to identify the child.

The man is alleged to have broken down into tears and confessed to the crime before the couple arrived.

"This man took the child back to the police and said he found him ... . He obviously thought we would just say okay and take the baby and he would be free to go ... . Thanks to good communication he was stopped," Inspector Michael Travis of the Hanover police said.

The child was safely handed over to his parents and their vehicle later recovered.

The man who is alleged to have stolen the car is yet to be charged but the police say it will be done before Thursday.

THE STAR contacted the couple but they were unwilling to speak.