Boy snatched from school in Sundumbili, found near Lesotho border
A seven-year-old boy who was kidnapped from his school on the north coast has been reunited with his family, after being found in Matatiele near the Lesotho border.
The child was snatched during break at his school in Sundumbili on Wednesday.
KZN police spokesperson, Thembeka Mbele says a woman arrived at the school pretending to be his aunt and asked to take the boy with, claiming she needed to buy him clothes.
Mbele says when the school did not allow the woman to take the boy, she waited outside for break time.
"She spotted the young man playing and she saw an opportunity to kidnap him. She abducted the young man and boarded a taxi to her home at Matatiele."
"The school teachers got worried when the pupil was not in class after the break, and called the mother who denied knowing the woman. The matter was reported to Sundumbili police and a case of kidnapping was eventually opened for investigation," she said.
Mbele says investigators tracked the 41-year-old suspect down to a Durban taxi rank.
"They proceeded to the taxi rank and waited for the woman. When the woman alighted from the vehicle without the boy, she was questioned about the boy. That is when she confessed to taking the child and kept the child. She lead them to Matatiele to the home where the child was found with the woman's grandmother."
"He was rescued and reunited with his family and he was further taken to the hospital for a check-up. The woman was arrested and charged with kidnapping and will appear in court on Monday," she said.
