On the night of 14 November 2019, at 23:30, Ilembe Cluster Task Team, Sundumbili Detectives together with a security company proceeded to Malutho in Matatiele near Lesotho border where they rescued a seven year old kidnapped victim and arrested a 41 year old kidnapper.
The Grade one pupil was kidnapped while playing with his friends at school in Sundumbili on 13 November at 10:15 by the woman who pretended to be his aunt. It is alleged that the woman first requested permission from the school to take the child to buy clothes and when the school refused she camped outside the school premises until break time. When she spotted the young man playing, she used the opportunity and abducted the young man and boarded a taxi to her birth home in Matatiele.
The school teachers got worried when the pupil was not in class and called the mother who denied knowing the woman. The matter was reported to Sundumbili police station and a case of kidnapping was opened for investigation.
At 19:30, the police officers acted on an intelligence driven information that the woman was on her way to Durban coming from Matatiele. They proceeded to a said taxi rank where the woman was seen alighting from the taxi without the missing boy. She was questioned about his whereabouts upon which she agreed to show the team where she kept him.
They proceeded to Matatiele where the child was found with the woman’s grandmother. He was rescued and reunited with his family and was taken to hospital for a check-up.
The woman was arrested and charged for kidnapping and will appear in the Nyoni Magistrates’ Court on Monday, 18 November 2019.
“This was a traumatic experience for the child and I believe with the help of social workers he will get the counselling following his ordeal. We are joyful that he was reunited with his family and his family will sleep peacefully knowing their child is sleeping safe next to them. The police officers’ enthusiasm is appreciated and must be always be applauded,” said the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Khombinkosi Jula.
