Police refuse to open case after girl is kidnapped
Kidnapping is taking a child without the parents' consent.
The mother of a 12-year-old is furious because Roodepoort Police refused to open a case of kidnapping after her daughter had allegedly been kidnapped.
On Wednesday, 6 September at about 5.45am the woman was travelling to her workplace in Centurion when she received a call from the driver who transports her daughter to school. He informed her that he was concerned because a vehicle was following his minibus to her house and that the angry and extremely aggressive driver insisted that her daughter get into his vehicle. The man was allegedly upset because her daughter had thrown baby powder in his daughter’s face.
The minibus driver asked the man for his phone number, which enabled the concerned woman to call him to try to defuse the situation. He was not interested and told her that her daughter had hit his daughter, and that he was going to take her to Roodepoort Police Station. She then told him that if he touched her daughter she would charge him with kidnapping and attempted rape. The man nonetheless forced her daughter into his vehicle and took her to Roodepoort Police Station. The mother called the station and requested an officer to take the man into custody (the mother admitted that she called the officer “stupid”). They refused to arrest the man and he subsequently dropped her daughter off at her house, leaving her unsupervised.
Also Read:Â Police finally take kidnapped baby allegations seriously
The woman and her boyfriend rushed home, but she said the police gave her “the runaround until 6.30pm”. When they returned the next day the officer she had spoken to said she won’t open a case since the mother had called her stupid, and that she was going off shift and that the next shift must help her.
The mother again returned to the police station. This time a colonel allegedly told her that she could not open a case because “it is only kidnapping if the child goes missing and is either sexually assaulted or murdered”. He advised her to open a case of crimen injuria because the man had told her daughter “you are going to s**t”. She then asked him in disbelief whether any adult can take a child without the parents’ consent, to which he replied, “Well, that is the law in South Africa”.
The Record asked Senior State Advocate Deon van Wyk to clarify the definition of kidnapping. “In this case it is simple – kidnapping is taking a child without the parents’ consent, which in this case is exactly what happened,” he said. He added that secondly no officer or police station has the right to refuse a citizen opening any case. “It is not for an officer to decide, but for the prosecutor,” said Van Wyk. He advised that the mother lay a complaint with the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid)
The Record is awaiting Roodepoort Police’s comment.
Do you perhaps have more information pertaining to this story? Email us at roodepoortrecord@caxton.co.za (remember to include your contact details) or phone us on 011 955 1130.
For free daily local news on the West Rand, also visit our sister newspaper websitesÂ
Remember to visit our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages to let your voice be heard!
