The senior investigating judge at the Dakar High Court, Abdoul Aziz Diallo, has concluded the case concerning the "SOS Keur Yeumande" orphanage. On August 21, 2025, the magistrate issued a partial dismissal order, reclassified the charges, ordered the arrest, indictment, and referral of Ndella Madior Diouf and several co-defendants to the Criminal Chamber.

On November 11, the case was presented at an identity hearing, pending the setting of a trial date. The defendants Ndella Madior Diouf and Cheikh Tidiane Ndiaye, who had been in custody since December 2023, were brought from prison. The rest of the group remains under judicial supervision.

A string of crimes and a grim picture

According to the document obtained by Seneweb, the committal order paints a grim picture of the nursery's operations and the criminal charges brought against it. A judicial investigation has been opened against Ndella Madior Diouf and 13 other individuals (nurses, domestic staff, security guards, assistants, and other personnel involved with the facility) for a litany of crimes targeted by the public prosecutor: "human trafficking, illegal practice of medicine, deprivation of food or care resulting in death, endangering the lives of others, failure to assist a person in danger, improperly obtaining burial certificates, manslaughter, violations of burial regulations, failure to register a birth, and complicity."

A look back at the facts and revealing videos

The case was initiated by a complaint filed on November 20, 2023, by Ndella Diouf against Ndella Madior Diouf, who refused to return her child. The complainant had entrusted her infant to Madior Diouf, but the child's return was contingent upon reimbursement of the costs of the stay, delivery, and care, which Ndella Diouf refused to pay.

Following the release of videos on social media depicting child abuse, the public prosecutor has tasked investigators with the case. The videos showed a child "in unsanitary and inadequate conditions, in poor health, crying, struggling to breathe, and exhibiting acute signs of malnutrition." A former nanny interviewed described the difficult working conditions, the poor nutrition of newborns with the use of age-inappropriate milk, and the lack of medical and pediatric care.

Acute dehydration, malnutrition and multiple deaths

The investigations received a damning report from the Albert Royer hospital: between October 20 and November 7, 2023, the center had taken in infants from the nursery suffering from "acute dehydration and significant malnutrition", and two of them had died after their arrival.

The arrests revealed improper preparation of baby bottles and the use of formula unsuitable for infants, dietary errors identified as the cause of the illnesses that developed. During a site visit with the authorities, investigators found the premises to be unsanitary and unsuitable for proper monitoring.

Official documents revealed the deaths of several other babies, including Zouleika Ndella Madior Fall, Mouhamed Konté, Maréma Ndella Madior Diouf, Bijou Ngoné Ndella Madior Diouf, and Youssou Ndour, from causes related to dehydration, malnutrition, and acute diarrhea. The report by Professor Ousmane Ndiaye, head of the Pediatrics Department at Albert Royer Hospital, stated that 12 children under care suffered from "malnutrition, undernutrition, and diarrhea linked to a nutritional error."

The body in a basin of ice and the $8 million transaction

Ndella Madior Diouf's modus operandi consisted of housing pregnant women who worked at the nursery until they gave birth, and then leaving their babies there.

The testimony of Anta Sarr, mother of baby Akon, is particularly damning. After her son's death at the nursery, she became suspicious about the way the body was being taken to the morgue and discovered the corpse in a basin filled with ice, with a fan. She also revealed that a transaction involving 8,000,000 FCFA had taken place: Ndella Madior Diouf had given a child to a couple in exchange for this sum, suggesting trafficking.

The nannies who were questioned admitted to having been recruited via Facebook without any professional qualifications for the job.

Clandestine burials and the illegal practice of medicine

Investigations revealed that Ndella Madior Diouf engaged in the illegal practice of medicine and clandestine burials. She herself issued death certificates on the basis of which she obtained burial permits, despite not being a doctor (having failed to complete a medical degree).

She admitted to giving instructions for babies to be buried in section 39 of the Yoff cemeteries by El Hadji Sene, Djiby Sow and Cheikh Tidiane Ndiaye, without further details on the formalities.

Cheikh Tidiane Ndiaye revealed that the police were not informed of the death of baby Akon and that the death certificate was drawn up by a certain Mouhamadou Samb and then signed by Ndella Madior Diouf.

Ndella Madior's defense and the accusations of a conspiracy

When questioned, Ndella Madior Diouf denied the allegations, claiming to be the victim of a "cabal of malicious and jealous people" who wanted to "steal her project." She asserted that her intention was to help women who were victims of unwanted pregnancies.

She did, however, acknowledge the numerous deaths recorded, attributing the causes to delays in care or inadequate monitoring of patients by the nannies. She maintained that she was not involved in baby trafficking, simply relying on the support of sponsors for the children's care.

Former nannies testified that milk and diapers were often in short supply, and that rice was sometimes repackaged and prepared as porridge to be given to the children. These food shortages, often due to the misappropriation of donations by Ndella Madior Diouf, are believed to be the cause of the illnesses that led to the babies' deaths.

The plaintiff, Ndella Diouf, confirmed that the accused demanded 5 million francs from her to get her child back.