A 25-year-old woman is expected to appear back in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday in connection with the kidnapping of a three-year-old boy.
The toddler was allegedly kidnapped from a Summerstrand beach earlier this month while out with his grandmother.
Megan Diedericks is being held in custody. The case was previously postponed so that she could point out her physical address and for a possible formal bail application.
At the time of the alleged crime, police spokeswoman Colonel Priscilla Naidu said the toddler and his grandmother were waiting for the child’s mother while on the beachfront.
While there, a woman introduced herself as Megan from Shauderville, struck up a conversation with the grandmother and after a while, both women went across to the nearby shopping centre to buy liquor.
They went back to the beach and waited for the child’s mother who never arrived.
The women stayed on the beach and a while later Megan went back to the shopping centre to buy cigarettes and took the child with her and never returned, police said.
The toddler was found by police with Diedericks who was arrested in a shack in Victoria Park Drive.
According to the homeless woman, she alleged that when she returned with the child after going to the shop, she could not find the grandmother so she took the child with her.
Police said the woman could not give a reasonable explanation as to why she did not contact police.
The toddler was not injured has since been reunited with his family.
-African News Agency (ANA)
