NELSPRUIT – The search for the truth about the British woman, Ms Anna Kreller, who claimed she was abducted years ago and held against her will, has taken a new turn. A second witness has come to the fore to testify about the day Kreller was found. Ms Sanet Joubert, a Commumity Policing Forum (CPF) member in Geduld Springs, was on the scene last Wednesday when Kreller was rescued.
Yet, the Hawks confirmed yesterday that their investigation had been concluded and no evidence of human trafficking could be found. Joubert told Lowvelder, “An old woman contacted me and said she was looking for a British girl who had gone missing.” Joubert said she had a radio that was linked to the police’s and heard that they had found a drunk woman. “I went to the scene and found Kreller sitting on the side of the road. Her first words to me were, ‘please don’t hurt me’. Then an old woman, the one who initially contacted me, arrived on the scene and claimed that she was Anna’s mother.”
Kreller had by then given Joubert a contact number for her mother, so she suspected that the old woman was lying. She said kreller refused to go with the woman and grabbed onto Joubert’s leg, stating that she didn’t know her. “Police then took her to the station.” According to Joubert, later that day the old woman went to fetch Kreller from the station and the police apparently handed Kreller over to her. “The following day police phoned me and wanted to know where the old woman lived as they wanted Kreller back.” She then took them to the house where they arrested Kreller for allegedly being an illegal immigrant.
“I have never seen her again.” Lowvelder reported on Kreller’s apparent ordeal last week and about the Nelspruit family who had helped rescue her. Hawks spokesman,
Capt Paul Ramaloko, said their investigation into human trafficking had been concluded. He said Kreller was no longer in custody as she had committed no crime.
He stated she was in a place of safety and that Kreller told the investigating team that she had been married to a South African man. She relocated with him to Cape Town from the UK. “The marriage did not work out and they were divorced. She lost her South African citizenship,” Ramaloko added. She apparently met another man in Boksburg who she described as her boyfriend. After an argument she moved to Springs. There she decided to call her mother and told people she was a victim of human trafficking so she could be deported. Ramaloko continued, “By the end of Monday morning, after questioning her, we decided no element of human trafficking existed in this case.”
Regarding the two witnesses to whom Lowvelder spoke, Ramaloko responded. “We do not regard them as witnesses, therefore, we will not comment on their speculations.”
