Another delay as Baby Siwaphiwe case drags on

Police have been given just over a month to submit two statements to prosecutors handling the case of baby Siwaphiwe Mbambo.

The baby's mother‚ S’bongile‚ and her lover‚ Phumlani Mbokazi‚ made a brief appearance in the Durban Magistrate’s court on Thursday.

The absence of the statements‚ still not submitted nearly three months after the case was cracked‚ forced an adjournment.

The pair face charges of fraud and defeating the ends of justice.

Brief legal parrying between the state prosecutor and defence lawyers resulted in the adjournment‚ but this was marked as a final postponement.

The two were charged with defeating the ends of justice after they allegedly misled police into performing a massive search for the one-month-old after a “hijacking” incident that had people around the country praying for the safe return of the baby in March.

TimesLIVE revealed‚ however‚ that a secret love affair lay at the heart of the baby’s abduction‚ which culminated in her being found after two nights with her kidnappers and a car chase.

The state is expected to quantify the losses incurred when authorities searched for the child.

-TimesLIVE