Missing girl found
A nine-year-old girl from Mzumbe who went missing for three days, was found on Monday.
Springs police spokesman Captain Johannes Ramphora, says the missing child was reported to the police on Saturday around 7pm and the search immediately started.
The three day search was conducted by the Springs police, the Benoni dog unit, Airwing unit from Pretoria and mounted unit from Johannesburg.
The first day of the search produced no positive results and it was the same on the second day of the search.
Monday was the third day of the search and the police searched in every corner, dodgy places of the township and even along the railway line with no luck until the police decided to split into two groups.
The groups extended the search to Pholosong and Far East Rand Hospitals.
“The child was found at the Far East Rand Hospital with no signs of sexual abuse or assault,” says Ramphora.
According to the child’s uncle, Ernest Ntuli, who has lived with her since she was two years old, he last saw his niece around 2pm on the day that she disappeared.
“I saw her playing with her friends on the street when I came back from work,” says Ntuli.
He says two hours after seeing his niece, her cousin was sent to call her and she could not find her.
“We did not take it seriously because we thought she might be with her other friends who reside two streets away from our home,” Ntuli says.
Adding that when his niece was still not at home around 6pm, they began to get worried and looked for her at all her friends’ homes, asking them when they had last seen her, before reporting the matter to the police.
He says their nightmare began when the search was called off without the police managing to find his niece because it was too dark.
“I hoped that the following day, the police would find her but they did not,”he says.
He added that after the second day’s search he lost hope that he would ever see his niece alive.
On Monday the family received good news from the police that the girl was found with no injuries at the Far East Rand Hospital.
“When I asked her how she got to the hospital, she told me that a woman that she referred to as aunty brought her to the hospital after picking her up on the street where she was playing,” says a confused Ntuli.
He says the explanation that he got from his niece confused him as his family is the only family that his niece has.
“Despite being confused, I am happy that my niece was found alive with no injuries,” Ntuli concludes.
