Mother’s story of baby’s ‘kidnapping’ didn’t add up, police say

A CLOSE relative of a “kidnapped” baby told the Cape Times’ sister newspaper The Mercury the family was shocked at the arrest of the child’s mother and hoped police would uncover the truth and put an end to the “madness”.

The alleged kidnapping of the one-month-old infant (the Cape Times is withholding her name) during an alleged hijacking on Friday spurred a frantic search.

For two days, emergency personnel and ordinary Durban residents alike worked around the clock to find her.

The mother, Sibongile, and her husband Felowakhe Mbambo made impassioned pleas for their baby to be returned to them.

But the story soon took a bizarre turn when police found the baby with the mother’s alleged boyfriend and a woman believed to be his girlfriend at Mariannhill Toll Plaza in the early hours yesterday.

Police national spokesperson Sally de Beer said, due to information they had received, a police roadblock stopped the vehicle in which the accused and the baby were found.

The baby, who was unharmed, has been placed under the care of the Social Development Department.

The two – as well as the baby’s mother – have been arrested and are expected to appear in court today, on charges “revolving around the alleged hijacking and the alleged kidnapping”.

While details relating to a motive have not been divulged yet, a well-placed police source said it is understood that the baby’s paternity has been placed in some question and the boyfriend had claimed he was the biological father.

It was also believed that the man had been keeping the child at his home in New Hanover, near Pietermaritzburg.

Yesterday, police said the mother’s initial account of the hijacking had raised alarm bells.

KwaZulu-Natal deputy provincial commissioner for the Detective Service, Major-General Bala Naidoo, said: “At the time her explanation seemed out of sorts.

“It did not make any sense to our seasoned bunch of detectives.”