“ACCORDING to the law a parent cannot kidnap their own child,” said the Durban lawyer, Andile Dakela, who is representing one of the suspects involved in the baby abduction case that dominated headlines this weekend.
It sparked a province-wide manhunt by police, various security organisations and even civilians, all looking for the one-month old infant.
The baby girl ‘went missing’ around noon on Friday, 10 March and by the early hours of Sunday, 12 March, she had been found. Three people were arrested in connection with the incident but only two people appeared in a packed Durban Magistrate’s Court today – the child’s mother and a man the police have named as her ‘boyfriend’.
Speaking to the Northglen News, Dakela who is representing the ‘boyfriend’, said that his client believes he is the child’s biological father. When asked whether his case rested on this fact, Dakela said that this was incorrect to assume and that he was merely following the instructions of his client. “I will cross that river when I get there,” the attorney said.
Just 10 minutes into proceedings, a paternity test was requested and the case was postponed pending DNA samples to be taken as well as for the State to complete a list of charges.
Earlier on Monday morning, reports by police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe, were that additional charges such as the contravention of the children’s act and misuse of state resources, could be brought against the suspects.
A special prosecutor has also been reported to have been assigned to the case and that the baby is currently in a place of safety and being cared for by the Department of Social Development.
