Boy taken away from baby kidnap suspect

A woman already facing a charge for kidnapping a newborn, is also suspected of kidnapping a 6-year-old boy she claims is her own.

Durban - A woman already facing a charge for kidnapping a newborn, is also suspected of kidnapping a 6-year-old boy she claims is her own.

Prosecutor Calvin Govender told the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday that the boy had since been taken to a place of safety and his DNA sent for analysis.

The woman, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the boy, was arrested earlier this month for allegedly kidnapping a newborn baby.

She would apparently befriend new mothers at the Mahatma Gandhi Hospital in Phoenix and buy them food.

The State alleged she would target vulnerable mothers and in this case offered the new mother a ride home and had apparently bought her lunch.

Govender had told magistrate Mahomed Motala that the woman had given the mother R5 to buy airtime and offered to carry her baby while she went to the shop. When the mother returned, the woman and the baby were gone, he said.

The matter was adjourned until on Wednesay for the investigating officer to investigate a pending case of kidnapping against the woman, which her Legal Aid attorney, Virushka Mistry, said her client denied.

However, in court on Wednesday, Govender referred to the 6-year-old, claimed by the accused was her own child. The court had also heard that she had taken the newborn home and also claimed this child to be her own. The baby was with her from July 13 until her arrest on August 15.

Police had traced her to the Nyuswa area near Hillcrest where the baby was found.

The case was adjourned until next month for the investigating officer to establish if the 6-year-old is the woman’s child and also finalise the issue of the kidnapping case.

noelene.barbeau@inl.co.za

@noeleneb

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