Pretoria - A grieving mother was reunited with her daughter almost a year after she was abducted by her dad and taken to Mozambique.
The woman, who cannot be named to protect the identity of her 6-year-old daughter, breathed a huge sigh of relief last Friday when her daughter was returned to her safe and sound.
It took the efforts of Interpol, Mamelodi family violence, child protection and sexual offences unit and the Komatipoort vehicle crime investigation unit to get the little girl back.
She was abducted last July.
“The mother had visited a clinic and left the child in the care of her grandmother when the father came and requested to take the child under the pretence that he was going to buy clothes for her,” said Major Robert Netshiunda, Hawks spokesman.
“The unsuspecting grandmother released the child as it was not the first time that her father had requested to spend time with the child,” Netshiunda said.
He said there was no bad blood between the girl's parents so the motive behind the abduction was unknown.
The two were separated and the mother had sole custody.
Netshiunda said after a missing person’s case was opened at the Mamelodi police station, investigations indicated that the child had been taken to Mozambique - the father’s birthplace - which prompted Interpol’s intervention.
“As far as we can tell, the child is unharmed and she says she is fine but tests still need to be done.”
The father, who also cannot be named, was still in Mozambique and Netshiunda said an extradition process was under way.
“He would face abduction charges when he returns to South Africa,” he said.
Pretoria News