Mom of kidnapped Kai-isha Meniers has described how she was duped into handing over her newborn baby to a stranger who fed her a believable sob story.
The 2-month-old was kidnapped last Saturday outside a Bishop Lavis shopping centre after a stranger, who pretended to be eight months pregnant, befriended Francis Meniers and offered to buy food and clothing for her baby.
Meniers said the suspect introduced herself as Bonita from Bellville. She found it strange that the kidnapper knew her background and used it to tug at her heartstrings and gain her trust.
“While we were walking the woman started opening up to me about why she wanted to help. She told me she wascan (abandoned baby), who ended up in an orphanage because her mother didn’t have enough money to raise her,” she said.
“I told her that I also grew up in a foster home and it wasn’t easy for me, so I understood her and appreciated the help. That’s what made me also feel comfortable.”
The woman offered Meniers help with baby products after observing how stressful being a mother of seven must be.
Meniers said the kidnapper was a slender woman, 1.7m tall, and neatly dressed.
In the video footage Weekend Argus obtained the alleged baby snatcher is seen strolling towards Lavis Drive with the baby in her arms.
In the 28-second video, the woman is dressed in a long-sleeved top with polka dots and pants. She walks calmly past other shoppers.
As she approaches the camera mounted directly in front of her, she turns away with her back towards it before disappearing into the parking area.
Weekend Argus reported that community organisations that carried out investigations into the matter had reason to believe that the kidnapping was premeditated with the perpetrator having observed the mother.
Meniers first met the woman at the shopping centre in Bishop Lavis after they struck up a conversation. Meniers left her 19-year-old daughter with the woman, who promised to buy food and clothing for her newborn.
Menier said she walked home with Kai-isha and told her eldest daughter to wait at the shops for the woman to hand over the groceries. “When my daughter came home, the woman (came along). I asked why she brought the woman; my daughter said it’s because she wanted to see where we live to drop the clothing she spoke about.”
Meniers explained she returned to the shop for the second time and the woman followed her. She left her 11-year-old and the baby with the woman while she went into the shop.
The woman then sent the 11-year-old to buy sweets and made off with the baby.
Meniers pleaded for people with information to come forward. “I don’t have money but I’ll clean your house, your garden. Please, as long as I can see and hold my child again.”
Western Cape Missing Persons Unit founder Candice van der Rheede said parents should be extra cautious when it comes to their children.
“Not everybody is as they seem and sometimes out of desperation to provide for our families we don’t think straight .
“We are trying our best to find this child; we have spent endless nights working with SAPS to locate this child and the suspect and won’t stop until we have yielded results.”
Missing Children South Africa co-ordinator Bianca van Aswegen said kidnappings were on the rise.
“We have opportunistic kidnappings, parental abductions, kidnapping for ransom demands.
“Human trafficking has escalated, South Africa has been declared as a human trafficking hub by the US. Victims are taken for trafficking, forced labour, illegal adoptions, sexual exploitation and organ harvesting.”
On Friday, Western Cape MEC of Community Safety and Police Oversight Reagen Allen visited the family of the missing baby after concerns were raised over the slow progress in the investigation.
Police spokesperson Captain Frederick van Wyk said they were working tirelessly to find the baby.
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Police spokesperson Captain Frederick van Wyk said that they were working tirelessly to find the baby.