Suspect and infant still at large

AN ALLEGED baby snatcher is on the run after pretending to be a “visitor” at the child’s home.

The incident happened at Mogapeng village near Lenyenye, outside Tzaneen, on Sunday afternoon.

Police said a woman visited the Mametja family, pretending that she knew them.

Lieutenant-Colonel Moatshe Ngoepe said the alleged kidnapper made the six-week-old baby’s mother feel so comfortable that she even left the baby in the unknown woman ’ s care and went for a bath.

“This was around 4pm on Sunday,” Ngoepe said yesterday.

He said the “visitor” then fled with luggage and the baby.

“When the mother finished bathing she realised that the visitor had taken her luggage and the baby with her.

“The search for the suspect in the vicinity was in vain. Her address is unknown and her ID is uncertain,” Ngoepe added.

According to the baby’s mother, Mamosetjana Mametja, the woman pretended to know the family when she got to the house.

She said the woman said her name was Lerato, from Lorraine village in GaSekororo, and said her father was John Milanzi.

Mametja said she was with her two grandmothers when the woman arrived.

“Both my grannies were convinced that the woman was one of us, so they did not suspect anything sinister. ”

She added the woman also spoke about several family members whom she knew as their relatives.

“I still cannot figure out how we were all conned by this con-artist that we believed everything she told us,” she said.

“I’m just praying for my baby’s safe return.”

Ngoepe said the woman is aged around 24 years and that the search for the baby is continuing.

Ngoepe also called on parents to be careful with their children. “We also call upon mothers to be extra careful and not leave their children in the hands of strangers,” he added. –