UPDATE: Eyewitness speaks on Amy-Lee de Jager’s kidnapping: ‘I heard a woman screaming’

The family of six-year-old Amy-Lee de Jager who was abducted in Vanderbijlpark on Monday morning reportedly confirmed to Eyewitness News that her kidnappers have made contact.

Amy-Lee de Jager was kidnapped by four men in front of Laerskool Kollegepark in Vanderbijlpark, Gauteng, at around 07:40am on Monday.

The men loaded Amy-Lee de Jager into a white Toyota Fortuner and drove off with her. Police spokesperson Captain Kay Makhubele told News24 a manhunt had been launched.

Anyone who has information about the incident has been urged to come forward.

According to the released missing person’s report, Amy-Lee de Jager was last seen wearing a pink dress with a white shirt and black leggings.

The school issued a short statement on its Facebook page asking people to be on the lookout after the girl was seemingly snatched from her mother’s car.

It was reported that Amy-Lee de Jager’s grandfather Martin Brouwer said the kidnappers made contact with the family demanding a ransom, understood to be R2 million.

Vaal Weekblad interviewed an eyewitness on Monday afternoon. Annemarie Pienaar dropped her son and walked with him to class. She said that she was on her way back to her car and about five metres from Amy-Lee’s mother’s car.

Speaking Afrikaans, she said: “I heard a woman screaming, and when I looked up I saw a white Fortuner. I looked into the window but could see nothing because the window was black. I just saw how [the mother] fell on the ground, apparently when the vehicle pulled away or bumped her.

“I could not see the men or, at that stage, a registration number.

“The next moment there was a little boy at the gate screaming. One could see the fear on his face. I picked him up and he just screamed, ‘My sister, my sister!’ I then took him to his class.

“I at first thought it was [the mother’s] vehicle that was stolen. I was then told that they had grabbed the child from her, bundled her into the Fortuner and rushed away. I didn’t see much more,” said Annemarie.

Several Fortuners were pulled over during the morning, without finding the child as yet.

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