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Court blocks family 'reunion'

SEPARATED: Ntokozo Mathebula hands over her child to a policeman during her arrest. 17/03/09. Pic. Riot Hlatshwayo. © Sowetan.
SEPARATED: Ntokozo Mathebula hands over her child to a policeman during her arrest. 17/03/09. Pic. Riot Hlatshwayo. © Sowetan.

Riot Hlatshwayo

Riot Hlatshwayo

A woman who was remanded in custody for the third time tried to convince a magistrate to grant her bail so she could reunite with her one-year-old child.

Magistrate Mandla Sambo of KaBokweni magistrate's court dismissed the plea, saying the woman had always left the child in her mother's care while she stayed in Gauteng.

Ntokozo Mathebula, 23, made her third appearance following her arrest on February 19 on nine counts of fraud.

She allegedly swindled people of their money in exchange for fictitious jobs at Transnet. Her case was postponed to March 30.

Mpumalanga police spokesperson Superintendent Sibongile Nkosi said it was not possible for a child to be with her mother in police cells because police did not have the required facilities.

She said, however, that prisons had the facilities and that Mathebula would be kept at the Nelspruit correctional services.

A Mpumalanga social worker who asked not to be named said the child could either be left with relatives or be taken to a place of safety.

"Depending on the circumstances, the child may be left with relatives or be removed to a place of safety if the relatives are abusive," she said.

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