Woman kidnapped at shopping centre
A woman was found after being kidnapped, by sending text messages to her mother.
Kimberleigh Smith (21) was kidnapped on Monday at around noon at Riverfield shopping centre in Petersfield.
Smith and her mother, Mariette Jennings, were chatting on a social network when her mother received a strange message.
“The message read, ‘Silver Getz – Two men’, that’s all she said and when I tried phoning her, her phone was off,” says Jennings.
Jennings says her daughter has been a recovering drug addict for the past four months and works in one of the shops at the Riverfield shopping centre.
“I was hysterical because I didn’t know what to do, I just received this message from my daughter and couldn’t get hold of her.”
Smith apparently walked over to the shop next door where she was accosted by the two men.
At this stage it is unclear how she got into the car and if she knew her kidnappers.
Jennings met Hi5 Kids Recovery Unit at the place where Smith disappeared and from there she phoned the police, Wild Wild Guardians, the metro police and several numbers of the Community Police Forum (CPF).
“We didn’t hear from her again until last night,” says Jennings.
” We were at the police station at around 10pm on Monday evening, opening a missing person file when I got a message from her.”
Smith later said to her mother she woke up in a hotel bathroom.
She had all her belongings with her when she sent messages to her mother.
Jennings explained Smith couldn’t tell her where she was and sent photos of the buildings outside the room that she could see.
“My two sons and my daughter’s fiance went to a tall building in the vicinity of Third Avenue, Springs Central Business District where they found the buildings in the picture.
“We immediately called the police, Wild Wild Guardians, Hi5 Kids and other organisations.”
She says the manager of the hotel, the police and the other groups went to the top floor, knocking on the doors until they found the room where Smith was locked inside.
“You could see the marks on her arm where they already injected her with what we think was drugs,” says Jennings.
Smith underwent tests at the crisis centre at the Far East Rand Hospital (FERH) until 4am on Tuedsay morning.
Jennings opened a case of kidnapping at the Springs police station.
Captain Johannes Ramphora of the Springs SAPS says they are still busy with a full investigation into the matter.
