Woman, 20, due in court after trying to sell baby on Gumtree

The Hawks spokesperson, Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said the woman posted an advert on Gumtree selling the baby for R5000 on Sunday. Police received a tip-off about the advert.

Pietermaritzburg police spokesperson Constable Mthokozisi Ngobese said the woman was arrested on Wednesday after another officer pretended to be a buyer. They met at a KFC in the central city of Pietermaritzburg where she was subsequently arrested, Eyethu News reported.

Mulaudzi said the suspect will be appear in court today facing charges of human trafficking.

Gumtree have since released a statement on the situation and the steps that the local listings site took once the advert was discovered.

Gumtree South Africa’s customer service team was alerted that a young woman had placed an ad on the site advertising a child for sale. The team immediately removed the ad and blocked the user’s account, which effectively did not allow her to post any further ads on the site.

The Customer Service team further escalated the issue to the corporate office that regularly engages law enforcement on suspected criminal cases, and the incident was reported to Childline in KwaZulu–Natal with all known details about the advert in question. Gumtree South Africa offers full support and cooperation to the Hawks in aid of their investigation into this very serious matter.

In a similar incident, four women were arrested for allegedly kidnapping and selling a baby for R5 000, in Pinetown, KwaZulu-Natal, in March.

Two of the women allegedly visited Tanya Sewpersad, the child’s mother, in the Marianhill area of Pinetown posing as social workers and said they had found a job for her.

“They told her to go with them to Pinetown, and she agreed, taking along her baby boy, who was six months [old] at the time,” police spokesperson Major Thulani Zwane said.

When they arrived in Pinetown, the women allegedly gave Sewpersad R300 cash to buy food for the baby.

“She left the baby with the two women, and when she returned, the women and the baby were nowhere to be found,” Zwane added.

– Caxton News Service