Monday, May 5, 2025 - A 21-year-old woman has been arrested for kidnapping a two-week-old baby, Owami Lonathando Sindani, in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
According to the police, the suspect befriended the child’s
mother, Bongiwe Sindani after they met while waiting in a queue at a local
clinic on Thursday, April 24, 2025.
The suspect visited Bongiwe at her home in Nsimbini on
Sunday, May 4, 2025 and fled with the child and her cellphone after she stepped
out to discard a bucket of water.
The mother had minimal information about her visitor. She conducted an extensive search with the assistance of the community, but was unsuccessful in locating the infant.
Members of Reaction Unit South Africa (RUSA) tracked down
and arrested the suspect on Monday, May 5 in the vicinity of the Westville
Pavilion Shopping Center in KZN.
“The RUSA Operations Center received a call from Bongiwe
Sidane last night (22:00 Sunday) reporting the kidnapping of her baby. Reaction
Officers circulated the missing child and received thirty-four (34) tip offs
and leads in the eleven (11) hours leading to the arrest & recovery,” RUSA
said in a statement.
"Officers followed up on tip-offs from the public In Pietermaritzburg- KZN, Limpopo Province, Cape Town - Western Cape & Johannesburg - Gauteng. Reports of women returning home with babies and behaving suspiciously were received throughout the night.
"During the early hours of this morning, Reaction
Officers narrowed down a search area to Chesterville in Kwazulu Natal.
Believing that the female suspect was in possession of the kidnapped baby and
planning to flee the KZN Province, Reaction Officers blocked off all
entry/exits & kept observation while the RUSA Helicopter searched the area
for a vague location provided.
"A woman was spotted behaving suspiciously with a new born baby. When Officers stopped her, it was established that the child in her possession was Baby Sindane.
"The woman was placed under arrest and had to be
removed from the area after a mob threatened to kill her. She was detained at
FCS SAPS Cato Manor & positively identified by the mother as the woman that
had kidnapped her baby.
"When Reaction
Officers interviewed the woman, she confirmed that she had kidnapped the child
after she suffered a miscarriage on April 24, 2025.
"She then met
Bongiwe Sindane at a local clinic and hatched a plan to kidnap her baby so her
boyfriend would not dump her.
"After the
kidnapping, she visited her boyfriend in Chesterville - KZN and convinced him
that it was his child.She further informed officers that the child was fed
water in a bottle and she had not purchased infant milk.
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