MBOMBELA – The alleged kidnappers of Baby Mandlazi are due to appear in court today (Tuesday). The five suspects face charges of conspiracy to commit a crime, and kidnapping after the disappearance of the day-old baby boy from Rob Ferreira Hospital on August 30.
Mozambican citizens Ms Ananias Ndzimba (27), Mr Julius Sithole (25) along with South Africans Mr Phineas Sono (35), Mr Aaron Moyo Nyoni (20) and Ms Portia Ncube (31) were arrested a week after the disappearance of the baby. They appeared in the Nelspruit Regional Court on Tuesday last week and were remanded in custody. Police confirmed on Monday that the infant had as yet not been found and reunited with his 16-year-old mother.
Mpumalanga police spokesman Brig Selvy Mohlala said that to his knowledge the baby had not been found. Lowvelder consulted a legal expert to explain the various legal terms pertaining to such events in layman’s terms:
Kidnapping: The removal of a child from his parents’ care without the parents’ permission.
Extortion: Demanding money for the return of the child.
Abduction: The removal from the guardian’s care, for sexual purposes.
Human trafficking: Misleading a person, causing him/her to allow removal from his/her support system and the exploitation of the victim.
Child trafficking: Making a payment to obtain a baby, the illegal adoption and using threat or force to take a baby from the mother, constitutes child trafficking. Forcing a child into slavery of any kind including prostitution, forced marriage, servitude, labour, or the removal of body parts also constitutes child trafficking, whether this occurs across a border or inside a country.
