Charges dropped against alleged kidnappers

Messers Khothatso Kgaphoca, 21, Nthanthla Magagula, 21, Petros Malapane, 21, Umar Shazad, 30, and Hammad Razad, 26, appeared briefly in court on Tuesday, Lowvelder reported.

Shazad and Razad, who are asylum seekers in the country, were said to have been the masterminds behind the kidnapping, according to Kgaphoca.

The men allegedly demanded R1 million after snatching the boy on February 27.

When court proceedings were over, it emerged that Shazad and Razad have ties with the boy’s family and the kidnapping was an attempt to retrieve money allegedly owed to them by the boy’s father after a business deal had gone sour.

Kgaphoca said the case against him was withdrawn on Tuesday. He explained: “We were walking in the streets of Lydenburg one Friday afternoon when these two Pakistani men called us. It was Shazad and Razad, acquaintances of mine. They asked us to help them push their truck, which was stuck in the mud. We helped them and caught a ride with them. There was also a young boy in the car.”

The men drove around with Shazad and Razad, who then asked Kgaphoca to call another Pakistani man. He claimed they told him word for word what to say, and this was when he had to break it to the person on the phone that his child had been kidnapped.

According to Kgaphoca, it was only then he realised what was going on. Kgaphoca told Lowvelder fear drove him to comply with their instructions. “One of the men was quiet. It was his quietness that scared me. If I refused to do what they told me, I feared that they would do something to me.”

According to a media statement issued by provincial police spokesperson Colonel Leonard Hlati, investigators who were called by the boy’s father, were tracing these calls.

“His father received another one at 7.30pm that day. The caller demanded R1 million for his release. After the arrest, the boy was returned to his parents, who opened a kidnapping and extortion case against the five accused,” Hlati said.

According to the boy’s father, the men have asked for forgiveness, and they have now laid the matter to rest.

– Caxton News Service