PI tracked down kidnapped Liam

2005-10-12 22:43

Lucia Swart and Borrie la Grange

Johannesburg - Shy, slightly bewildered and still dressed in his school clothes, Liam Aspeling stared wide-eyed at the jubilant small crowd that awaited him.

The 10-year-old was standing outside Ennerdale police station, south of Johannesburg, after police and a private detective had traced him earlier in Freedom Park, near Eldorado Park.

A gang of armed men grabbed Liam on Tuesday morning shortly after 07:00 in front of his home while he was being given a lift to Aloe Ridge Primary School.

One of the men pulled Liam out of the lift-club car, bundled him into another one and raced away.

André Burger, a private detective with the CNSG security company found Liam at 12:45 in a house where he was sitting alone on a bed while an armed man guarded him.

Burger said: "The guy with the firearm ran away when we turned up. Liam was inside. He just wanted his mom and was emotional."

Followed up clues all night

Former Soweto police detective Burger became involved when he followed up information received from the community after Liam's kidnapping came to light. He called police when he had traced Liam.

Since Tuesday morning, a police team had worked through the night, following up clues as far away as Mpumalanga.

Vaal Rand police chief Simon Mpembe said no one had been arrested yet for the kidnapping.

He said police were investigating all possibilities, including one that Liam may have been kidnapped because his father, Vernon Aspeling, was due to testify next week in the trial of a hijacking syndiate.

Soon after the news that Liam had been found unharmed spread like wildfire through Ennerdale, scores of residents crowded around the police station and his parents' home in the hope of seeing him for a moment.

"Thank the Lord the child is safe," a woman called out when Liam walked shyly with a police officer out of a doorway.

Earlier, his mother, Anastasia Aspeling, had clapped and jumped up and down with excitement when she saw Liam for the first time at the police station.

"I've seen him and he smiled."

At first, she was speechless when she saw him and covered him in kisses, she said.

"He was very hungry and wanted me to order a pizza for him immediately."

She would not say a word about how she felt about Liam's kidnappers.

"The law will deal with them. I'm just glad my child is back."

When police eventually took Liam back home on Wednesday night, after he had pointed out the scene to the detective team, neighbours and friends applauded and rejoiced.

Police say he's clever

Liam waved shyly to the cameras while one of his relatives carried him around triumphantly on his shoulders.

His mother said: "The police say he's terribly clever. He could describe everything in the finest detail."

But the family does not want to say what Liam felt during the kidnapping.

Mrs Aspeling said: We'll talk about everything. He just told me he got very cross with them, because they tied his hands much too tightly."

- Beeld