‘I am happy that it came to an end,’ says Amy’Leigh’s father

The father of a Vanderbijlpark girl, Amy’Leigh de Jager, who was kidnapped in September last year believes justice has been served after the accused were found guilty and sentenced on Thursday.

Tharina Human, Laetitia Nel, Pieter Jacobus van Zyl and Bafokeng Molemohi entered into plea and sentence agreements with the State in the Gauteng High Court, sitting in Palm Ridge.

They were convicted of kidnapping and attempted extortion.

The girl’s father, Wynand de Jager said:I am happy that it came to an end so that we can just move on with our lives and my daughter can actually start living a normal life as a child and we can start looking forward now to improve her as my daughter and improve her way of living.

When asked how the kidnapping affected the family, De Jager’s lawyer, Ockert Vermaak, said there was an ongoing children’s court case involving the biological mother.

“The matter was opened in March this year. The children [are] placed in his [the father] primary care. For reasons that’s quite clear in the children court’s matter. And things that came out in the children’s court are basically the reason for the placement of the children with him.”

Vermaak did not want to elaborate further on the matter.

Mastermind

Human, the 27-year-old Grade RR teacher said to be the mastermind, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and Van Zyl received an eight-year term.

Molemohi was sentenced to seven years behind bars and Nel received five years.

News24 previously reported the four men snatched Amy’Leigh from her mother’s car at Laerskool Kollegepark and drove off in a white Toyota Fortuner.

The police launched a manhunt while her distraught parents waited at the Vanderbijlpark police station for any news.

The kidnappers initially demanded R2 million for her release. Amy’Leigh’s kidnappers dropped her off, between 02:00 and 02:30, in a street close to The Shakespeare Inn in Vanderbijlpark on 3 September.

A man and a woman took her to the police station where she was reunited with her parents.

Human was a close friend of the De Jager family.

She was Amy’Leigh’s younger brother’s teacher.

Human allegedly orchestrated the kidnapping to pay a debt to drug dealers, News24 previously reported.

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