Mdantsane police yesterday arrested a 28-year-old woman after recovering a newborn baby kidnapped on Monday afternoon.The one-day-old girl was taken from her mother in a busy supermarket on the Mdantsane Highway on the pretext of the woman administering care while the new mother was buying baby milk at the store.
The mother of the child is 17 and her identity has been withheld to protect her and her baby.
She is from Bezuidenhoutsville in Adelaide.
She arrived at Cecelia Makiwane Hospital on Sunday afternoon to give birth and was discharged on Monday.
Speaking to the Daily Dispatch yesterday the teenager said she was about to leave the hospital when the suspect entered her ward to visit someone in the bed opposite hers.
“She saw me struggling to carry a bag and my child and offered to assist. She carried the baby and we left the hospital and waited for an ambulance to transport me back to Adelaide.
“While we were outside the woman asked if the baby had a bottle and I told her it was empty,” said the mother.
She said the woman had then offered to buy the baby milk at a busy shopping centre nearby in NU3.
“It was just after 1pm and, as the ambulance was only due to fetch me at 6pm, I decided we would go buy the milk,” said the mother.
The two women got into a taxi and the stranger paid the fare.
“We got to the store, she took a seat at an eating area holding the baby and gave me R50 to buy milk. I was gone for five minutes.
“When I came back with the milk the woman was not where I left her. I initially thought she had gone to the toilet but after some time I became worried,” said the mother.
She said she asked people who were seated in the same area and was told the woman was seen leaving the shopping centre.
Mdantsane police spokesman Lieutenant Nkosikho Mzuku said police were alerted to the incident and immediately registered a case of child kidnapping.
He said police retraced the steps taken by the two women until they came across a member of the public who assisted them with the case.
“Mdantsane police traced the woman to the Silvertown Squatter Camp in NU1 on Tuesday morning, where they found her packing her bags getting ready to skip town.
“She was taken in for questioning and further investigation led us to NU7 where the baby was being kept,” Mzuku said.
Mzuku said the baby was being kept at the woman’s boyfriend’s home.
“We found the baby with the mother of the boyfriend. We learned that the woman had been expecting a child and had told her boyfriend’s family that this was the child she was expecting, hence they decided to keep and care for the baby in her absence,” Mzuku said.
He said the woman was due to make her first appearance in the Mdantsane Magistrate’s Court today. — zwangam@dispatch.co.za
Cops recover stolen baby
The one-day-old girl was taken from her mother in a busy supermarket on the Mdantsane Highway on the pretext of the woman administering care while the new mother was buying baby milk at the store.
The mother of the child is 17 and her identity has been withheld to protect her and her baby.
She is from Bezuidenhoutsville in Adelaide.
She arrived at Cecelia Makiwane Hospital on Sunday afternoon to give birth and was discharged on Monday.
Speaking to the Daily Dispatch yesterday the teenager said she was about to leave the hospital when the suspect entered her ward to visit someone in the bed opposite hers.
“She saw me struggling to carry a bag and my child and offered to assist. She carried the baby and we left the hospital and waited for an ambulance to transport me back to Adelaide.
“While we were outside the woman asked if the baby had a bottle and I told her it was empty,” said the mother.
She said the woman had then offered to buy the baby milk at a busy shopping centre nearby in NU3.
“It was just after 1pm and, as the ambulance was only due to fetch me at 6pm, I decided we would go buy the milk,” said the mother.
The two women got into a taxi and the stranger paid the fare.
“We got to the store, she took a seat at an eating area holding the baby and gave me R50 to buy milk. I was gone for five minutes.
“When I came back with the milk the woman was not where I left her. I initially thought she had gone to the toilet but after some time I became worried,” said the mother.
She said she asked people who were seated in the same area and was told the woman was seen leaving the shopping centre.
Mdantsane police spokesman Lieutenant Nkosikho Mzuku said police were alerted to the incident and immediately registered a case of child kidnapping.
He said police retraced the steps taken by the two women until they came across a member of the public who assisted them with the case.
“Mdantsane police traced the woman to the Silvertown Squatter Camp in NU1 on Tuesday morning, where they found her packing her bags getting ready to skip town.
“She was taken in for questioning and further investigation led us to NU7 where the baby was being kept,” Mzuku said.
Mzuku said the baby was being kept at the woman’s boyfriend’s home.
“We found the baby with the mother of the boyfriend. We learned that the woman had been expecting a child and had told her boyfriend’s family that this was the child she was expecting, hence they decided to keep and care for the baby in her absence,” Mzuku said.
He said the woman was due to make her first appearance in the Mdantsane Magistrate’s Court today. — zwangam@dispatch.co.za
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