Teen who lied about being kidnapped, now suspected of robbery
The teen had not been kidnapped as she had claimed, but had apparently joined a group of friends who had looted a Chinese store in Ulundi.
THE effort to investigate a possible human trafficking case proved to be a complete waste of police resources for the second time in Zululand in the past year and a half.
A case of kidnapping was opened at the SAPS offices in Ulundi last Wednesday by a distraught mother who was convinced that her 19-year old daughter had been taken against her will.
The mother told police that her daughter had left their home in Sishwili earlier that morning and was headed to the Pep Stores at Ulundi Plaza to deliver her CV in the hopes of securing some holiday work.
She became increasingly concerned when her daughter had not returned by late afternoon and contacted police after her daughter phoned her that evening saying she had been kidnapped.
The teen phoned her mother from an unfamiliar number, claiming that she was being held captive at the Old Legislative Building (now a popular tourist site in Ulundi) with four other woman and had borrowed one of the other woman’s phones to make the call as her phone had been taken from her and switched off.
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While the teen said she had not been harmed in any way, she said she believed her kidnappers were planning on taking her away the next day.
Police searched the Old Legislative Building as soon as they were alerted by the teen’s mother, but found nothing. They also attempted to trace the teen’s cell phone and the phone from which she made the last call to her mother but found nothing.
They later discovered that the teen had not been kidnapped as she had claimed, but had apparently joined a group of friends who had looted a Chinese store in Ulundi.
Zululand cluster communications officer for the SAPS, Captain Nkosie Gwala, was contacted to find out if the teen has been arrested and charged but she was still looking into the matter at the time of publishing.
In June last year, 18-year old Lerato Moloi was charged with perjury for lying to police about being kidnapped.
ALSO READ: Lerato charged with perjury
She elaborately explained to the police how the three had taken her to an unknown room in Nquthu, where she was locked in a room with five other women. She claimed that the men took photos of her, and loaded them online to initiate a bidding war. She said she had somehow managed to escape her captors after nightfall and made her way back to Bhekuzulu.
Lerato’s story set in motion a high profile investigation into a possible human trafficking syndicate operating from Vryheid. It was a matter of days before the news made national headlines and was even being discussed as an urgent matter in parliament by the National Cabinet Committee for Safety and Security.
Police later discovered the teen had taken her father’s cell-phone when she left home to visit her boyfriend, and had lost the cell phone somewhere along the route. She had not come home as she did not want to tell her parents that she had lost the cell-phone.
