Kidnapped schoolgirl spends first night back with her family since November

Three arrests made in connection with the kidnapping

06 January 2022 - 07:33
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Members of private security direct pupils and traffic after the EP Baumann school in Mayfair was closed when a schoolgirl was kidnapped on November 17, 2021. File image
Members of private security direct pupils and traffic after the EP Baumann school in Mayfair was closed when a schoolgirl was kidnapped on November 17, 2021. File image
Image: Alaister Russell

An 11-year-old kidnap victim spent the first night with her family on Wednesday night since being snatched from the EP Baumann Primary School in Mayfair, Johannesburg, on November 17.

Police said three arrests have been made in connection with the kidnapping.

The daughter of a wealthy Pakistani businessman was found in Devland in Soweto around midnight on Tuesday.

Members of the Crime Intelligence Anti-Kidnapping Task Team, assisted by the Johannesburg Flying Squad, pounced on the house where she was being detained. She was rescued unharmed and was taken to a medical facility for examination before being reunited with her family.

According to police, suspects who were at the house evaded arrest.

However, a 40-year-old man was arrested in Mozambique on Friday, December 31, said police spokesperson Lt-Col Robert Netshiunda. “Interpol is busy with the extradition process,” he said.

Two other suspects, Ayanda Kekana, 50, and Fortune Kambule Ndlovu, 36, were arrested in December in connection with the same kidnapping, said Netshiunda.

Their bail application was denied at the Johannesburg magistrate's court on December 7. The suspects will be back in court on Friday.

The schoolgirl was kidnapped while waiting in line outside the school to be sanitised and have her temperature checked. Men brandishing AK47s called her name and when she looked up and identified herself, she was taken.

Police investigations are continuing.

TimesLIVE


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