tame TIMES
winner of the 2012 & 2013 ekurhuleni awards: best print media
Thokoza, Palm Ridge, Eden Park
Becoming the voice of Ekurhuleni
Volume 03, 13 February 2014, Week 07
www.tametimes.co.za
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Missing child found in Brackendowns Charity Moyo
charity@tametimes.co.za Palesa Swanpoel (9) went missing from her house in Peterson Street, Eden Park in the early hours of the morning, around 3:00. She was found the same day, around 10:30 in Brackendowns, Alberton, still alive and having been done no physical harm. Rochelle Swanpoel, the mother, said Palesa enjoyed watching television, especially at night and early in the morning before she goes to school. “I woke up in the morning around 3:00 and she was awake. l asked her to fetch water for me, as l had sinus problem. I went back to sleep and when l woke up around 5:00 l checked for her in the sitting room, where she usually watches television, and she was nowhere to be found. The main house door was closed but unlocked and we started searching for her all around our area but we could not find her. She left the house wearing a top and a gown and shoes,” said Swanpoel. The police were informed of the missing girl; the dog unit police force, the police helicopter and members of the community joined the search Rochelle Swanpoel is crying and hugging her daughter Palesa when she was around the area and the surroundings open bought home alive by Brackendowns police officers. *Photo taken by Charity spaces and veld. The child was not found and Moyo.
the police also informed the nearest police stations of the missing child. Captain Mega Ndobe, communications officer of Katlehong Police Station said at around 10:30, while busy conducting a search, they received a phone call from the Brackendowns Police Station that the child was found in their area. “It is alleged that a domestic worker saw the child in Brackendowns walking with three unknown males, wearing the same clothes that she left home with. The domestic worker alleges that she also saw the child for the second time now with no gown but wearing a pink tracksuit trouser. She said the child was alone crying and screaming for help. The child told the domestic worker that she does not know the three men that she saw her with and that she is lost and needs to go home to her parents. The domestic worker then informed the police. The child was taken to her parents first and afterwards for medical check-up. It was confirmed that nothing physically harmful has been done to her. She is fine but traumatised in that she can’t recall what really happened,” said Captain Ndobe. Rochelle Swanpoel was happy to see her daughter alive and she is very concerned about what led to her daughter’s disappearance.