A 13-year-old girl was reunited with her mother four days after an intense search by Parkview Police Station members.
The search began after the girl arrived at the station on the morning of 9 January, saying that she had come to visit her friend in Hillbrow and could not find her friend. “She informed me that she is from Violet Bank in Mpumalanga and told me she did not have her mother’s contact details. I then proceeded to make contact with the Violet Bank Police Station to try to locate and contact her mother,” explained Sergeant Iris Phoko, head of social crime prevention at Parkview Police Station.
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While Phoko was awaiting a response from Violet Bank, the girl allegedly said she was feeling cold and wanted to rather stand outside in the sun to get warm. A few minutes later, Phoko went to look for the girl, but she had vanished.
Phoko said she then searched the whole day and night for the girl, leaving her photograph everywhere she went. She then received a call from Violet Bank Police Station saying that they had found the child’s mother and she was on her way to Johannesburg. Upon the mother’s arrival, Captain Lesetja Ldwaba, Phoko and the mother started to search long into the night.
“The mother then informed me that the girl had been in an accident five years ago and witchcraft had been used on her to make her run away because she is soon to be paid out for that accident. Her mother said she was a very good child but had no friend in Hillbrow and had never been to Johannesburg before. She had also stolen R700 from her mother for taxi fare.”
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Phoko said she was delighted when, on 13 January, the girl’s mother got a call from a man named Frans Mashilo who works at Europcar in Braamfontein, saying that he was with her. “The man had stopped and asked the girl where she was going and she said she was lost and gave him her mother’s contact number, which she had told me she did not have.
“However, while the man was talking to us the girl began to run away once again.” Phoko said that later that day they received another call from the man, saying he had seen her again and they needed to come quickly to Park Station because she was struggling to stay in one place. They then rushed to Braamfontein and managed to get the girl reunited with her mother, unharmed, after four days on the street.
Solly Kramers bottle store in Parkhurst and the police station’s victim support unit donated money so that the mother and child could be bought bus tickets to return home safely.
“I am so glad we found her again and she was unharmed. Thank you to everyone who helped with this, your help is greatly appreciated,” concluded Phoko.
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