UPDATE: Kidnapped Kingsway baby, two other abducted children found with ‘nurses’
Grace Gumbo (26) and Mercy Tsoko (28) were arrested and charged with child abduction and contravention of the Immigration Act of South Africa.
Little Desire Museba, the four-month-old baby girl allegedly kidnapped on September 4 by women posing as nurses, has been found, along with two other children the police say were also abducted.
According to the SAPS Ekurhuleni district communication officer, Captain Nelda Sekgobela, the child was found in Mpumalanga on January 2.
Two other children, a boy and a girl, aged four years and four months, respectively, were also found with the two women who were the initial suspects in the kidnapping of baby Desire.
Brigadier Selvy Mohlala, the police spokesman in Mpumalanga, said the women, Grace Gumbo (26) and Mercy Tsoko (28), were arrested and charged with child abduction and contravention of the Immigration Act.
Also Read: Kingsway mom desperate to find kidnapped baby
“Police in Kriel received a tip-off from community members about two women in Ogies pretending to be caregivers and who had three children with them.
“Officers swiftly responded to the information and arrested the two at a shack in Ogies.”
Mohlala said the two other children were abducted in Thubelihle in Kriel and in Marble Hall.
The suspects appeared in the Kriel Magistrate’s Court on January 3, and the matter was postponed for further investigation.
The pair will remain in custody.
Sekgobela said a buccal swab test was conducted on mother Brilliant Museba and her child.
“The mother positively identified her child by her birthmark. The child is still at a place of safety,” said Sekgobela.
The two women, who said they were auxiliary nurses, promised Brilliant Museba of Kingsway that she would get help from Far East Rand Hospital, like food parcels, nappies and clothes for her baby because she was struggling financially.
On the day of the kidnapping, the plan was for the two women to accompany Museba to the hospital. However, they changed their story, saying Museba could no longer go with them and that they would take the child to the hospital.
They gave Museba money to board a taxi to Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital and assured her they would meet her there, but they never arrived.
Also Read: WATCH: Kidnapped baby found in Etwatwa
