Johannesburg - A Kempton Park woman has been arrested after she led police to the baby that she claimed had been kidnapped during a house robbery at her home.
Detectives mobilised on Tuesday morning after the woman’s husband, Julius Lubisi, came home on Monday night to find his wife and their 15-year-old daughter tied up, with baby Jayden nowhere to be found.
The baby’s formula and belongings were also missing.
However, by the afternoon, detectives investigating the case drove the couple to eMalahleni, Mpumalanga, and found Jayden with his 23-year-old biological mother, who is the niece of the suspect.
It was then that a clearer picture of what had happened began to emerge.
The child - who was supposed to be 13 days old - was found to be four months old.
Police were investigating whether the woman had lied to her husband about her pregnancy.
The woman, who is in her forties, was arrested in eMalahleni and is to appear in the Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court.
“The woman lied about the robbery at her house and the abduction of the child.
“She is now facing a charge of perjury,” police spokeswoman Lieutenant-Colonel Katlego Mogale said.
Lubisi arrived home around 10pm on Monday and found his wife and daughter tied up.
His wife told him that she was in her bedroom when three men and two women entered the house. Without saying a word, they placed a white cloth over her mouth and drugged her.
That is all she remembered. The daughter was taken from her bed and also drugged, she had told him. Disposable nappies had been stuffed into their mouths.
Lubisi said he woke his wife and daughter up and discovered the baby was missing.
Earlier during a press conference, Lubisi had said the alleged robbers fled his home without taking a single electrical appliance. His wife’s cellphone was the only thing missing.
The desperate man then pleaded with people to come forward to assist the police in finding Jayden.
Lubisi said the family didn’t have enemies and that only relatives and two of his wife’s friends knew of their child’s birth.
He added that the child was born in Mpumalanga and lived there for a few days before being taken to Kempton Park.
Lubisi said his wife and Jayden had been in Joburg only a few weeks.
Some of the couple’s neighbours were shocked to learn from the media that a house robbery had taken place the night before.
“We only saw police vehicles this morning. We had no idea about the robbery,” said a man who lived near the couple.
Another neighbour said they were hoping that baby Jayden would soon be reunited with his family. “I feel sorry for them. No one deserve this. It’s not easy,” said Hendrina Levina, who described the pair as a loving couple.
The Star