Baby given to 'friendly' kidnapper
2009-05-19 13:25
Thulamahashe - Mpumalanga police are searching for a woman who is accused of stealing a four-month-old baby.
The little boy's grandmother, Flora Ngwenya, is a vendor at the taxi rank at the Thulamahashe shopping complex in Thulamahashe and said the woman offered to take the baby to a supermarket and buy him yoghurt last Thursday morning.
The woman never returned.
"He was on my back when the woman came and gave him a big smile and said she wanted to adopt him," says Ngwenya.
She said the woman seemed so friendly, she didn't think twice about letting her take him to the supermarket to buy him yoghurt.
"She said she'd be back soon," she said.
Tried to adopt baby
When the woman didn't return, Ngwenya ran to alert the boy's parents, who still attend school and are in Grade 10 at Mafemani High school.
They then reported the matter to the police.
According to witnesses, the woman caught a taxi to Tembisa. She was carrying the baby and a big bag.
The boy’s mother, Tinyiko Mabhota, said the woman may be the same woman who came to her house last month and also offered to adopt the baby as she was unable to bear children of her own.
She is also believed to have tried to steal two other babies in the township last Wednesday.
Mhala police captain Brian Mnisi has asked anyone who sees a baby with a black birthmark above his buttocks to contact them.
Police have opened a case of child theft.