Durban - Family and friends of a missing 23-year-old Durban student Natasha Conabeer fear for her life after she went missing last month.
An extensive search for Conabeer is under way after her mother Rosemary opened a missing persons report on August 9, citing that as the last day she saw her daughter.
However, on Saturday, Conabeer’s friends said she was last seen leaving her Florida Road lat heading to Inanda, north of Durban, to visit her family, on August 18.
“Days have passed and we haven’t heard anything. Stories of raped and murdered women are really scaring us. We’re worried that something bad has happened to Natasha,” said Zamambo Mkhize, a friend of the family.
A missing persons docket was opened at the Umbilo police station. Private Investigator Wendy Pascoe who was hired by the family said: “We are still phoning around and questioning friends, to make sense of when she was last seen but urge anyone with information to please report it,” added Pascoe.
Meanwhile, a KwaDabeka student who was allegedly kidnapped on Friday was found late yesterday and taken to hospital after police said she had been raped.
A family member told the Sunday Tribune that the alleged kidnappers had requested a R5000 ransom yesterday, hours before she was found.
Police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbele said the victim had reportedly been walking along Khululeka Drive when she sent her mother a text alerting her that an unknown vehicle was following her.
“She requested her mother to call her back after two minutes to check on her. When the mother phoned back, her cellphone was already off,” Mbele said.
On Saturday her sister said that she had received a call from the alleged kidnappers who demanded that she make a payment at a Spar outlet.
“It was a private number. I noticed that the caller was trying to change their voice. When I asked them to hand over the phone to her they said she had been kept elsewhere,” the sister said.