Father reunited with abandoned son thanks to Facebook
IVORY PARK -Three weeks ago, Midrand Reporter wrote a story about a four-year-old boy who was allegedly abandoned by his mother. Now, after a place of safety circulated the child's photo on Facebook, the boy has been reunited with his father.
The boy’s dad, Thabo Doko, spoke to Midrand Reporter about how, on 27 July, he found out his son had reportedly been abandoned by the mother. He said, “A relative came across the photo on Facebook and told me, I could not believe what I was seeing. My heart broke.”
Doko said he had left his son with a parental grandmother in the Eastern Cape. The boy’s mother allegedly took the boy from the care of his gran and said she wanted him to live with her in Johannesburg. This then led to the events on 2 July when the boy was left alone near Ivory Park Police Station and was found by a passerby who took him to the police.
Doko said after the seeing the photo, he went to the police station and his son was brought to him from a place of safety. He showed police the boy’s birth certificate and a hospital letter and was then able to take his son home.
Speaking about the boy’s mother, Doko said, “I really don’t know what happened, but she claims she was desperate as she did not have a place to stay after she arrived in Johannesburg.”
Ivory Park police spokesperson Warrant Officer Neldah Sekgobela said, through leads, police searched for the boy’s mother and discovered that she was now working at a shop in Midrand.
When police went to arrest her, she willingly handed herself over. “Police found her via Facebook, even the boy identified her as his mother via the social platform. She alleges that she did not abandon her son but left her in the care of someone. She has been charged with child neglect and will soon appear in court,” said Sekgobela.
Ivory Park police would like to thank everyone who shared the Midrand Reporter story link and the place of safety’s photo until it came to the attention of the boy’s family.
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