A 23-year-old mother from Etete in KwaZulu-Natal almost lost her four-week-old baby who was kidnapped by a woman who had been staying with her family for months. Thanks to quick action by the Umhlali police task team the infant was found, and the baby snatcher arrested.

Silindile Ngema of Dark City says the woman was in Etete for several months while visiting her boyfriend, a grand-uncle of the child.

“She showed much compassion towards me, offering to stay up and look after the baby at night when my son cried.

“She used to say I should get some rest and she would take care of my baby, bathing and feeding him. I now believe it was her way of making sure the baby got used to her,” Ngema says.

Until last Monday, when the woman said she was taking a walk with him to the shop to buy baby food and never returned.

“I did not mind because she had been with us for months. Little did I know that was the day she would disappear with my child.”

The child’s disappearance was reported to the Umhlali police and they immediately investigated.

A quick breakthrough was made made last Wednesday when police received a tip-off from a source, who informed them the female being sought was at Tugela Ferry, a town in central KZN.

The police contacted a security company owner in Greytown, who was happy to assist and arranged a medical professional to be on standby with his team.

They found the baby snatcher in a house and arrested her and rescued the boy, who was examined at Greytown Hospital and declared to be in good health before being reunited with his mother.