“We strongly appeal to the public to help us find the baby and we maintain our plea to all parents to desist from handing over their babies to strangers,” he said.
The kidnapper, who only identified herself as “Mambathane”, befriended the child’s mother at a Duncan Village clinic, and then took the mother and child to the Amalinda Shoprite mall.
Once there, Mambathane sent the mother inside to buy medicine for the infant.
Shopper Nomfusi Nwele said her five-year-old had yelled: “Mama why is she putting that baby in the boot!”
Two people at the mall said they saw the woman driving a white VW Polo hatchback.
When the mother returned from the store, the car, the woman and the baby had vanished.
Have you seen baby Iyana?
Image: Supplied
It is day five since one-month old Iyana Nkumbi was stolen from the Amalinda Shoprite Mall by a woman in her 50s masquerading as a good samaritan.
Cambridge police on Monday appealed to the woman to return the infant. Anyone who has seen the baby in the picture is urged to call the Cambridge police on 043-709-7500 or Lieutenant-Colonel Njenjese on 079-890-0762.
On Monday, devastated Nomfusi Nkumbi, 34, asked the Dispatch to issue this plea: “From one woman to another, I beg you, please return my child. I won’t hold any grudges against you. I am willing to persuade the police to drop the case if you bring back my baby boy.”
Baby Iyana is too small for solids and needs to be breastfed by his mother.
“I can't sleep at night. But I am hopeful that I will reunite with my baby. All I can do is wait. I don't know where to go and look for my child.
“I have pinned my hopes on the police.”
Nkumbi has not reported the incident to the father of the baby. “We have no relationship together,” she explained.
Baby Iyana was wearing white pants and a yellow jersey, and had a navy bag containing a flask, a bottle of milk, a dummy, his clinic card and medicine. Cambridge police spokesperson Captain Mluleki Mbi said the case had been handed over to the SAPS Family Violence Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit.
Mbi said the police would offer counselling to the infant’s distraught mother.
Mbi said: “The kidnapper must hand herself over to the Cambridge police and bring the baby with her so this can be over soon for everyone’s sake.”
On Friday police launched a massive hunt for the woman and have worked around the clock since, Mbi said.
“We strongly appeal to the public to help us find the baby and we maintain our plea to all parents to desist from handing over their babies to strangers,” he said.
The kidnapper, who only identified herself as “Mambathane”, befriended the child’s mother at a Duncan Village clinic, and then took the mother and child to the Amalinda Shoprite mall.
Once there, Mambathane sent the mother inside to buy medicine for the infant.
Shopper Nomfusi Nwele said her five-year-old had yelled: “Mama why is she putting that baby in the boot!”
Two people at the mall said they saw the woman driving a white VW Polo hatchback.
When the mother returned from the store, the car, the woman and the baby had vanished.
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