Abductions of children rising

RECENT CASES: PUPIL FOUND, BUT BABY STILL MISSING

A 15-year-old from a remedial school was also reported missing this week.

The recent kidnapping of a newborn baby at Lakeside Mall in Benoni and that of a Grade 8 boy waiting for his lift at a school gate has sparked a national public debate about the wave of abductions hitting the country.

The pupil at Queens High School in Kensington in Johannesburg, who went missing on Monday afternoon, was found alive at Maponya Mall in Soweto yesterday after a R5 million ransom was demanded for the safe return of the 14-year-old.

It is not clear whether the ransom was paid, but Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi said it was concerning that pupils were being targeted at schools.

A Vanderbijlpark school teacher accused of kidnapping a sixyear-old Grade R pupil from Kollegepark Laerskool in September last year, is presently standing trial along with her three co-accused.

They will be back in court on 27 March for a trial date to be set in the High Court in Johannesburg.

Lesufi said that on 24 February, a 15-year-old Grade 8 female pupil from Lantern School, a remedial school for children with special needs, in Roodepoort was reported missing.

“According to information at our disposal, she was not picked up by her parents as accustomed.

“Police are also investigating the circumstances surrounding this case.”

Captain Nomsa Sekele said the mother of the baby, Pretty Mphenemene, 39, left her baby and her handbag with a suspect named Katlego.

“It was not the first time that they had met so she trusted her [Katlego].”

She said Katlego held the baby while Mphenemene went into a store. When she came out of the shop the woman had disappeared with the baby.

According to the South African Police Service, kidnapping has increased by 139% in the past decade.

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