Zinhle Mapumulo

Zinhle Mapumulo

What should have been a young mother's happiest day turned into a nightmare when a woman stole her newborn baby from Coronation Hospital, Coronationville, Johannesburg.

Nothemba Gweje, 24, of Diepsloot left her home in labour on Tuesday night.

The next morning she gave birth to a boy. She duly phoned her family to tell them the good news. Little did she know her joy would be short-lived.

Gweje's baby was allegedly stolen by a woman visiting another mother in the same ward. She apparently took the baby while Gweje was asleep.

"The last thing I remember is the woman playing with my baby. I dozed off. When I woke up she and the baby were gone. I went to the nurse to ask what had happened to my baby.

"She said the baby should have been lying next to me. That's when I realised that my baby had been stolen," said the tearful mother.

She said she had reported the alleged kidnapping to the police, but there were no new leads.

"All I want is for the woman to return my child.

"She can even leave him outside the hospital if she's afraid she'll be arrested," pleaded Gweje.

Johannesburg police have confirmed that a charge of kidnapping had been opened.

Captain Cheryl Engelbrecht said: "We have questioned the other woman who was in the ward but she claims she does not know the woman and only met her in the ward."

The suspect is a slender, coloured woman, fair complexioned, with straight black hair in her early 20s and is about 1,6m tall.

Anyone with relevant information can contact the police's investigating officer Captain Elsa Coertzen on 082-778-7904, or Inspector Tonja Louwrens on 084-593-8953.