Kahn and her Pakistani boyfriend, Khalid Ayub, are accused of kidnapping Revelation Jones on Tuesday from his parents' house in Bez Valley, east of Johannesburg. The pair had been renting a backroom at the Jones' house for a month.

During the alleged kidnapping, Jones's nanny was stabbed and remains in a critical condition in hospital.

Speaking outside court yesterday, Kahn's father, Abdul Kahn, and stepmother, Jorha Iqbal, said they were shocked when they heard their daughter was wanted by the police. They said a day after the alleged kidnapping, Kahn had asked her stepmother to look after the infant. Iqbal had asked her: "Why do you bring another person's baby here? You have three kids and you are pregnant again."

She left with the baby.

They did not suspect that the child had been kidnapped.

Yesterday, they visited Kahn in the holding cells at the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court and tried to understand what had motivated her.

Iqbal told her that she had brought shame to the family.

"I even told her: 'I am not happy with you. You let me and your father down. What is your grandmother in Durban going to say?'"

Kahn's father said his daughter's first husband, also a Pakistani, had spent time in jail in South Africa for fraud before being deported.

In the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court yesterday, the pair were charged with kidnapping, robbery, extortion and attempted murder. They will reappear in court next week to apply for bail.

Kahn's three children are at a place of safety, but the grandparents hope to gain custody of them soon.