They met at the shopping centre and within minutes, she had stolen her baby.

The pain of losing a child can force women to act in unimaginable ways.

When Cherie Amoore’s baby boy tragically died just hours after he was born, she never imagined she would find herself in jail for stealing another woman’s baby.

In fact, even now, she’s struggling to comprehend what she did.

Six weeks after she lost her son, Amoore went to her local mall in Maryland, USA. She noticed Malika Hunter, a young mother with a baby and a toddler, and stuck up a conversation outside a jewellery store.

Hunter’s first impression of Amoore was that she was “polite, friendly and energetic”.

The two new friends walked together to the food court.

But when Hunter turned around to tend to her older son, something came over Amoore. She scooped Hunter’s baby out of his pram and walked away.

“I don’t know why I did it,” NBC 10 reported Amoore as saying.

“I can’t explain it. I held him, and all those feelings rushed back. I just wanted my baby. I felt like I was holding my son again. It felt so good. I didn’t want to lose that feeling. I was crazy. I never intended to do anything like this.”

CCTV footage documents the terrifying moment Amoore grabs 7-week-old Ashir and walks at a high speed through the mall and out into the car park.

Baby Ashir was finally found hours later at Amoore’s home.

Amoore was arrested at the scene while Ashir was returned to his grief-stricken mother.

She is yet to enter a plea of innocent or guilty and is out on a bail of $500,000.