Charges withdrawn against kidnapping suspect

The charges against a 22-year-old Bertrams woman accused of kidnapping her boyfriend’s child have been withdrawn at the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court.

As reported the woman was arrested after she took the child while her boyfriend was taking a bath. The boyfriend reported the matter and Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD) officers from Vosloorus, along with information received, suggested that she could be in Villa Liza.

The suspect is not the child’s biological mother. Friends of the suspect provided the EMPD with information which led to her arrest in Windmill Park. The child was returned safely to her father. It has since emerged that the matter was more of a domestic squabble that went too far.

The case was originally registered at the Jeppe SAPS. “The case has been withdrawn. The court declined to prosecute due to some of the facts that emerged. The suspect alleged that she did not kidnap the child as she has looked after the child since the child was about five months old. She also revealed that the father would usually leave her to take care of the child while he travelled to Mpumalanga on a number of occasions. The couple had had an argument before the 22-year-old took the child and this might be a misunderstanding on their part,” said Warrant Officer Richard Munyai, of the Jeppe SAPS.

The Chief Superintendent of the EMPD, Wilfred Kgasago, said their job was not to prosecute. “Ours is to respond to the urgency of matters and we are expected to by the community. When we are asked for assistance, we do what we can to bring the suspects to book. Prosecution is for the courts, we did our part as expected,” said Chief Supt Kgasago.