Johannesburg - A 37-year--old Ugandan man is behind bars for allegedly kidnapping his 6-month-old twin boys for almost two months.
The Rustenburg man was finally nabbed in Evaton after a frantic search to locate him and the children.
North West police spokesperson Brigadier Sabata Mokgwaabone said the man and his 34-year-old Zimbabwean partner had separated but lived in the same area in Rustenburg.
Mokgwaabone said the agreement between them was that the man would go to the mother’s place in the morning, collect the twins and take them to a childcare centre.
The mother would then pick them up in the afternoon.
“However, the mother was informed by the staff at the centre on Thursday afternoon, November 26, that the father never dropped the twins,” Mokgwaabone said.
He said attempts to reach the father via cellphone had proved futile as it seemed he had removed the SIM cards from both his phones.
“Neither attempts to call the father nor tracing him at his business premises yielded positive results. Thus, the matter was reported to the police for investigation.”
Mokgwaabone said the father was finally traced to a house in Evaton, Gauteng, and later arrested.
The twins, who were unharmed, were returned to their mother.
At the time that the children were taken, Mokgwaabone said, they were breast-feeding.
North West Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Sello Kwena applauded the Rustenburg Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit, supported by Gauteng Provincial Crime Intelligence and Evaton Tactical Response Team, for successfully locating the kidnapped twins and arresting their father.
The father appeared in the Rustenburg Magistrates’ Court on Thursday on a charge of kidnapping.
IOL