Kidnapping: Teen pleads guilty

2008-08-28 20:06

Thabisile Khoza & Sydney Masinga

Barberton - A teenager has pleaded guilty to stealing a newborn baby from his mother's arms and burying him in a shallow grave when he died of dehydration.

Priscilla Ndimande-Nkambule, 18, of Mjindini appeared briefly in the Barberton Magistrate's Court in Mpumalanga on Thursday and pleaded guilty to charges of child stealing.

She also pleaded guilty to culpable homicide, but not to murder, saying the baby's the death was accidental.

She was denied bail and was remanded in custody until September 10 for further investigation.

Baby Sekhobo was stolen from the arms of his mother, 25-year-old Patricia Fikile Sekgobu, in a maternity ward at Barberton hospital on August 6 by a woman pretending to be a doctor.

He died of dehydration on August 10 and was exhumed from the teenager's parent's yard on August 11 after the community tipped off the police.

The teenager initially claimed that a female security guard and a nurse helped her steal the baby. She was unable to identify the nurse, but claimed the guard would be able to do so.

Police interrogated the guard for two hours, however, and released her after finding no evidence to link her to the case.

Barberton police spokesperson Captain Simanga Ncongwane said the teenager's parents may, however, be arrested as accessories to murder, pending a decision from the National Prosecution Authority.

The body of the baby has not been reburied yet as police are doing DNA tests to confirm that the baby is, indeed, Baby Sekhobo.

- African Eye