The Beat 2 May 2014

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2 May 2014

Baby abducted from Modimall

The police are urgently looking for information that could help them recover this four month-old baby girl, who was abducted from the Modimall on Wednesday, 23 April by a middle-aged Zulu-speaking woman. The photo provided is the most recent photo available of the baby. Please contact W/O Bobby Nel at 014 718 1025 or 082 319 9465 if you have any information.

Denise van Bergen The police are looking for an unknown Zulu-speaking woman in connection with the abduction of a four month-old baby girl from the Modimall on Wednesday, 23 April. According to information received from police spokesperson Warrant Officer James Findlay, Jacobeth Mongatane (17) from Syferskuil near Bela Bela, met the alleged abductor, who has not been identified, on Tuesday, 22 April in Bela Bela. The suspect apparently stopped Mongatane, who had her baby with

CCTV shows the suspect walking through the Modimall with Jacobeth Mongatane from Bela Bela’s baby on her back, leaving the mall via Exit 3, on the day of the abduction. The woman has not yet been identified.

her at the time, in town and offered her a position as babysitter at her home in Phagameng. Mongatane was told that she could take the baby with her. Mongatane agreed and they arranged to meet the next day at a specified time and place in Bela Bela, from where they would go to the suspect’s house in Modimolle so that Mongatane could start work. The suspect paid the taxi fees to Modimolle and intimated to Mongatane that she was a wealthy woman. They went to the Modimall first because the suspect allegedly

Politicians still optimistic

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had to have key copies made. Having arrived there at around 16:00, she told Mongatane to wait at the Fish & Co. while she had the key made, and that she would buy something for the baby. The suspect then allegedly entered the mall with the baby. By 20:00 that night, Mongatane started to suspect that the woman was not going to return with her baby, and opened a kidnapping case with the police in Modimolle. According to Findlay, the suspect was clearly visible on the centre’s CCTV network. At around 16:10 she walked through the mall

quickly, with the baby on her back, leaving the mall via Exit 3. Since there are no cameras outside the entrances, the police could not make out much more than that, but it is believed that she was going in the direction of Mr. Munchies. The police suspect that the case may be related to human trafficking, considering the circumstances. The police have asked anyone with information that could lead them to the suspect to contact W/O Bobby Nel of the Children’s Protection Unit in Modimolle on: 014 718 1025 or 082 319 9465

Total Surrender lays down the law

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