Sello Theletsane
Police in Ermelo, Mpumalanga, have managed to crack a 20-year-old case of abduction and reunite a family with their long-lost child.
The investigation, which started in March 2001, was brought before courts in November when officers arrested a 50-year-old woman in connection with the case.
According to police, on 23 March 2001, a woman, aged 16 at the time, gave birth to a baby girl, and both were later discharged that day from Ermelo Provincial Hospital.
As they were on their way home to Breyten in the company of the baby’s aunt, they met a woman who is said to have offered to assist by holding the baby as her mom was experiencing pains and dizziness whilst the aunt had visited a shop nearby.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Selvy Mohlala said after a while, the said woman then reportedly took the baby, promised to return, and headed towards the direction the aunt headed.
“The aunt returned, but the said woman never did. Their attempts were futile after searching for the woman and the baby for a while. The incident was then reported to the police at Ermelo, and a case of child abduction was opened,” said Mohlala.
Police followed up on leads, but that yielded no fruits until November 2021, when they got a breakthrough. Police received information of a picture circulating on social media which a sibling identified.
She looked like her mother and her sibling decided to inform the family and police of the picture.
“We then went to the grandmother, who confirmed the similarities. The sibling then contacted the individual on social media seeking more information about them,” Mohlala said.
Following that, police conducted forensic tests where DNA samples were collected, and results came back, which turned out to be a breakthrough in the case of child abduction.
“A 50-year-old woman was then arrested and charged as she is alleged to have been the one behind the said incident that occurred 20 years back. The female suspect appeared in the Ermelo Magistrate’s Court on 30 November 2021 and was granted bail of R1000. Her case was postponed to 18 January 2022,” he said.
The young lady has been kept in a place of safety whilst she receives psychological support will be reunited with her biological family soon.
This is the second case in South Africa following the Zephany Nurse story. She was abducted from Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, on 30 April 1997, when she was two days old.
She was reunited with her biological parents, Morne and Celeste Nurse, 17 years later after DNA tests confirmed her identity. After being friends with her younger sister, who had moved to a new school, she was found. Schoolmates commented on the resemblance between the two. After hearing of the resemblance, the father arranged to meet Zephany at a restaurant, and he contacted the investigating officer in the case to inform him of what he had found.
The police began an investigation, and after Zephany’s parents could not provide proof of her birth, DNA tests were conducted, and the results came back positive that she was their long-lost daughter.
