Mother prays for daughter's safe return

A mother whose missing child's case has been picked up and had an age progression portrait compiled has placed her hope in prayer.

Neo Nkoane's 18-months-old daughter Ronewa Matshinyatsimbi went missing on December 30 2013 at Dunnotar Military Base in Springs on the East Rand while Nkoane, 41, was in Sudan on a military deployment.

Ronewa had been left in the care of Nkoane's then boyfriend.

Her age progression portrait is the 12th to be compiled by the police.

Ronewa would have turned 10 on July 22 and Nkoane said she bought a cake, lit a candle and prayed for her child’s safe return.

“I believe I will find my child, either alive or not, but my greatest prayer is to find her alive and happy and not abused in any form,” said Nkoane.

Nkoane, who has been working at the SA National Defence Force for 18 years, said not being able to raise her own child has brought her nothing but agony and emotional pain.  

“Living without her has not been easy. All I want is my daughter. I am going through a lot of pain not knowing what she is eating.

“It has been hell and terrible not being able to raise my child. Sometimes I ask myself why I should be happy when my child is missing.

“Sometime in July, I experience breakdowns and would take leave from work. I need to find her,’’ said Nkoane.

National police spokesperson Col Athlenda Mathe said an age progression portrait is “an artistic impression of a missing person that has ‘aged’ over a number of years, utilising knowledge of craniofacial growth. The facial image is the most likely appearance of the person, based on available information. It is solely used for investigative purposes.

“The process can be divided into two categories; mainly child age progression and adult age progression. When we consider how the facial growth of a human changes with time, shape and texture, the aging process can be divided into two phases. They are the child [formative] phase and the adult phase.

“In appearance prediction across aging, children get a significant place because their growth of faces is different to adults. In formative years, shape variants of the face takes precedence over texture variants. However in adulthood, texture variants take precedence over the shape variants of the face,” said Mathe.

Following Ronewa's disappearance, Nkoane’s boyfriend was arrested in January 2014 but the matter was provisionally withdrawn from the Nigel magistrate’s court and has since become a cold case, hence a portrait was compiled.

At the time, police said the man told them that he had allegedly received a phone call from the child's nanny who he later accused of kidnapping Ronewa.

Police said on further investigation, they found that no such phone call was ever received by him and that no-one had ever seen the so-called nanny besides him.

The case was later withdrawn.

Mathe said age progression portraits are only preformed upon request.

“It remains a very challenging task as so many factors are involved in its execution. It is also heavily dependent on the number of suitable photographic images that are received from the family. This includes images of the missing child, as well as from the parents and siblings, preferably at the same age that the missing child is presumed to be and from similar angles.

“In addition, it is crucial that as much information about the missing child is shared with the forensic artist. This information includes, but is not limited to lifestyle, personal habits as well as family genetics. It is also important to note that an age progression is an investigative tool that offers recognition and not a means to identify a missing child as a carbon copy image. It is used to [re]ignite interest and garner possible leads when all other investigative leads have been exhausted. In terms of identification, one would still need to confirm using any of the primary identifiers [DNA, fingerprints or dental records],” Mathe said.

kokam@sowetan.co.za