‘Why I snatched little Amy’Leigh’
EVIDENCE: ‘AMY’LEIGH KIDNAPPING WAS TO SAVE ACCUSED’S DAUGHTER’
Court hears of a Nigerian being owed ‘a lot of money’.
the ransom demanded for the release of kidnapped Amy’Leigh
A Nigerian was reportedly making threats over money owed, says officer.
Tharina Human, the alleged mastermind behind the kidnapping of six-year-old Amy’Leigh de Jager, reportedly admitted that she planned the whole kidnapping because she owed a Nigerian man money but did not say what she owed him money for.
This is according to Constable Clayton Motloung, who took to the stand to give evidence in the Vanderbijlpark Magistrate’s Court during yesterday’s proceedings presided over by Magistrate Hussein Khota.
He said Amy’Leigh was supposedly kidnapped to “save” Human’s daughter.
Investigating officer Motloung told the court that when he arrested Human, she said a Nigerian man had threatened to kidnap her eight-year-old daughter over the money owed.
According to Motloung, who said he was still investigating the case, Amy’Leigh’s mother Angeline said she was dropping her children off at school when the incident took place.
Her five-year-old son was in the car with her and Amy’Leigh and she said a man grabbed the boy first, let him go and then grabbed the little girl and fled.
Motloung then went on to recall how hard it was to trace the getaway vehicle as there was no registration number attached to it.
It was only after Amy’Leigh’s father, Wynand, received a call from a man two hours after the kidnapping asking for R2 million that the police were able to trace the number to a plot just outside Vanderbijlpark.
It was there that they found accused number two, Laetitia Nel, 40, who is related to accused number one Tharina Human.
Motloung said this prompted them to head over to Nel’s house, where they found all three of the accused present.
The court heard how further investigations led police back to Nel’s house when she told them the kidnapping was Human’s idea and Pieter van Zyl, 50, was also involved.
Motloung testified about how Nel then took them to Van Zyl’s house, where they discovered a firearm and found a man who ran away when he saw them. That suspect is still at large. According to Motloung, their initial plan was to stage 27-yearold Human’s abduction in order to get her family to pay the ransom.
They then allegedly decided to stage the kidnapping of a close family member, knowing that Human’s brother would “bail that person out”.
The accused later changed their plan and allegedly decided to kidnap Amy’Leigh.
The trio were arrested last week and appeared in a packed magistrate’s court in the town on Monday, September 9.
The trio were in court on a formal bail application yesterday and proceedings were still under way.
The African National Congress Women’s League in Sedibeng demonstrated outside the court.
The women’s league’s Fetty Mnguni said they were calling for no bail.
“We are saying no bail to the abductors. We are not going to allow our children and women to be victims of abuse and child kidnapping.
“We are saying no bail today, no bail at all.”
The three accused needed to be transported back to the Johannesburg Prison in time, so the matter was adjourned before 4pm.
The bail application would continue today.
Additional reporting by Jannie du Plessis/Vaal Weekblad
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