A 21-year-old woman has been arrested in connection with the kidnapping of a three-day-old baby from a health clinic in eastern Johannesburg.
Police spokesperson Sgt. Patricia Mgijima reported that the 31-year-old mother had taken her infant for a check-up at the Margaret Zuma Clinic in the Winnie Mandela area of Tembisa on Monday afternoon.
“The mother needed to use the restroom and encountered the suspect along with other women in line. The suspect offered to hold her baby while she went to the toilet,” Mgijima explained.
Upon returning from the restroom, the mother discovered that the suspect had vanished with her child.
CCTV footage captured the woman, dressed in a black tracksuit, leaving the clinic with a baby wrapped in a blanket.
By mid-morning on Tuesday, police located and arrested her at the nearby Dali Mpofu informal settlement. According to Mgijima, the suspect claimed she intended to take the child as her own after suffering a miscarriage in May.
“She confided in us that she was afraid to inform her family and her partner's family about her miscarriage.”
The baby appears to be unharmed but is undergoing a medical evaluation as a precautionary measure.
The suspect is anticipated to appear in Tembisa Magistrate's court shortly.
Last month, police received reports of two baby abductions.
In Durban, a two-week-old infant was found safe after allegedly being kidnapped by a 21-year-old woman who had experienced a miscarriage a few weeks earlier. According to the private security firm Rusa, she allegedly devised the plan “to prevent her boyfriend from leaving her” after meeting the newborn's mother at a clinic.
In Gqeberha, 22-year-old Sinovuyo Rabula is on trial for allegedly abducting two infants from the neonatal ICU at Dora Nginza Hospital. She had falsely informed her boyfriend that she was expecting twins.
Police discovered that Rabula had visited the hospital three times in May, claiming to be pregnant. A pregnancy test conducted by doctors returned negative, leading to her referral to a psychologist during her last visit on May 19.
