By Rivonia Naidu and Shaun Smillie
The father of three-year-old Paris Benton, who was allegedly kidnapped along with her mother Karren McKenzie, on Sunday said despite feeling relief over his daughter's safe return, he was "very suspicious" about the "so-called kidnapping".
Paris and McKenzie arrived back at their Johannesburg home after allegedly being dumped on the side of the road in South Hills by their kidnappers on Saturday.
Speaking to the Daily News, Dale Benton said although his daughter and ex-girlfriend were now home safe and sound, he wanted police to "get to the real truth" about what happened on February 5 when the two were allegedly abducted from McKenzie's home in Kenilworth, Johannesburg.
"The whole situation does not make sense and I am going to be speaking to the police, because I want to know what really happened. But I am just happy and excited that my daughter is safe, I cannot believe that she had to go through this," he said.
McKenzie, 23, and Paris were discovered missing from their home after McKenzie's parents arrived at her house and saw a ransom note written with crayon on the lounge wall. The note demanded that R3 000 be paid to the abductors and that Benton leave Durban.
On the same day, Benton, who lives in Durban and is unemployed, also received threatening SMSes to pay the ransom and leave KwaZulu-Natal, or else the mother and daughter would be killed.
On February 5 and 6, the kidnapper communicated with McKenzie's parents, and Dale by SMS.
These SMSes told them to deposit the money into McKenzie's and Dale's Nedbank accounts. On Sunday, February 8, the SMSes stopped.
The last SMS Dale received read: "They're dead c***. It was a pleasure."
But on Wednesday, February 11, McKenzie's parents received another SMS, which read: "Karren and Paris are not well, they are not eating. I just hope Dale saw the paper."
The messages came from the same cellphone number the alleged kidnapper had used in the past to communicate with McKenzie's family and Dale.
Late on Saturday night, 10 days later, McKenzie arrived at her parents' Elandspark home unharmed.
She told media she was dumped by her three kidnappers in South Hills and had walked to her parents' home.
She said on the day of the abduction she was asleep when one of the kidnappers entered her room armed with a gun. She and Paris were led to an awaiting car in which two accomplices waited.
McKenzie said they did not say much to her, but they did speak to her daughter. "One of them said to Paris, 'if your daddy doesn't come to Joburg, I am going to shoot your daddy'," she said.
She said she and her daughter were placed in an outside cottage which contained a bed, kitchen and bathroom. Her abductors also left food for her and Paris to eat as well as a Teddy bear for Paris.
"I only saw my kidnappers a handful of times," she said. When she did see her abductors, it was one of the men, and he always had a gun with him.
McKenzie said she did not sleep, but spent her time trying to keep Paris occupied. She also prayed.
At times she could hear her abductors talking outside and that is what scared her.
"On Wednesday (February 11) and on Friday (February 13), there was a lot of commotion, they got rowdy and I was worried about what they wanted to do," McKenzie said.
On Wednesday, the kidnappers drove McKenzie to an ATM where she was told to withdraw R1 000.
Then on Saturday evening the three men dropped McKenzie and her daughter in South Hills.
Benton said the ordeal had taken its toll on him.
"It's been a difficult time for me because that's my daughter and I have been stressed about her whereabouts. On the other hand I have being accused of being responsible for the kidnapping, but I was also receiving threatening messages, and the whole time I never knew what was going on.
"I still don't know what's going on because no-one phoned me and told me that my daughter was now safe, I had to hear it from the media. I just hope police will find out what really happened," he said.
Benton said he had lived in Johannesburg last year, but returned when his relationship with McKenzie ended in October.
He last saw his daughter in December when he attended her school concert.
"There is nothing more I would like to do than see my daughter right now, but I'm going to wait for the police investigation to end," he said.
Gauteng police spokesperson Superintendent Eugene Opperman said police would not be able to comment as it could jeopardise the investigation.