Cape Town woman charged with kidnapping

A 44-year-old Cape Town woman is facing kidnapping and human trafficking charges after she allegedly tried to get an affidavit from the police in Mbombela, Mpumalanga, on Tuesday to help her adopt a baby.

A police officer became suspicious when the woman, Sheila Seba Craig, went to the police station with a baby in her arms and asked staff to assist her with the affidavit.

When Craig was questioned, she produced a number for the child’s mother in Bellville, Cape Town. However, a man who answered a call to that number put the phone down when he heard it was the police.

The Hawks were called to investigate the matter, said the Hawks’ Mpumalanga spokesperson, Captain Dineo Sekgotodi.

Sekgodi said officials established that the baby had been kidnapped shortly after birth from a Bellville hospital, when her biological mother complained that she did not feel well.

Sekgotodi said staff at the hospital told the Hawks that a woman who pretended to be a family member of the sick mother, offered to look after the baby.

Craig is in custody and her case was postponed to August 20 for a bail application.

Sekgotodi says the baby has been taken to a place of safety until she can be reunited with her 26-year-old mother.

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