Family of Vanderbijlpark kidnapping suspect deny rumours she is pregnant

The father of suspended Grade RR teacher Tharina Human, accused of kidnapping a six-year-old girl, has disputed rumours that his daughter is pregnant.

Riaan Botha dispelled the rumours on Tuesday when his daughter appeared at the Vanderbijlpark Magistrate’s Court.

“I first heard about this in the court passages. Someone asked me how things were going with Tharina’s pregnancy and I asked them, ‘Is she pregnant?’, and the person said, ‘Yes.’ That’s the first I’d heard of it. I said I would find out.

“I then confronted her about it, and she said it wasn’t true. If she were pregnant, it would have shown by now. I have noticed that she was getting chubby, but I don’t think she’s pregnant,” he said.

Huisgenoot first reported on the pregnancy rumours in January. This was denied by Human’s lawyer, David Mey. The publication also spoke to a man believed to have been in a brief relationship with Human, who said he knew nothing about a pregnancy.

Human and her co-accused – Laetitia Nel, Pieter Jacobus van Zyl and Bafokeng Molemohi – are accused of kidnapping the pupil outside her school on September 2 last year.

The four are charged with conspiracy to commit kidnapping, alternatively attempted kidnapping, kidnapping and attempted extortion.

Their case was postponed to March 2 for the court to get a date from the High Court for the trial to start.

Botha said the postponement was unexpected, but it was not something they had control over.

He added that it had been hard for his daughter to only get to see her child from behind jail bars.

“When I look at her, I can see sadness.”

He said Human’s daughter had also been strong and that, one time when they visited her, she had told the guards: “Thank you for looking so good after my mom (sic).”

Human, Van Zyl and Molemohi remain behind bars, while Nel is out on bail.

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