Mystery surrounds abduction of two kids
Fear grows albinism had to do with their capture
Police have released an identikit of one of the men suspected to be behind the kidnapping of two children in Witbank, Mpumalanga, at the weekend.
The man was believed to have been part of a three-man gang that forcefully entered a house in Hlalanikahle and made off with Gabisile Shabani and her 15-month-old nephew at gunpoint.
The family said on Wednesday they believed the attackers were foreign nationals. By yesterday, police investigations were yet to yield results.
Gabisile’s mother‚ Anna‚ said it was possible that her daughter was taken because she was an albino.
Meanwhile‚ Witbank mayor Lindiwe Ntshalintshali said she was left speechless by the incident. “Gabisile is living with albinism and it is suspected that the three men who broke into their home in Hlalanikahle also targeted Nkosikhona [the toddler] whom they mistook for another baby in the family who also lives with albinism‚” she said.
“Cases of kidnapping of people living with albinism are rife in Tanzania and, lately, in KwaZulu-Natal.
Anna said she had noticed a man watching her daughter as she walked back from school.
She had never seen the man in the area before, neither had she bothered to ask why he was loitering close to her home.
In the early hours of Sunday morning‚ the 50-year-old Anna woke up to the sound of glass shattering. She went to check and found a window had been broken and‚ before she knew it‚ there were three men inside her house.
One of the attackers pointed a gun at her while the other headed to the bed and grabbed Gabisile‚ who is a twin. Gabisile had been sleeping on her bed while her twin sister‚ Khanyisile‚ slept in another room with another of Anna’s grandchildren. –