THE SMS sent to the mum said her daughter had been kidnapped.
The kidnappers wanted R5 000 ransom money . . . but the woman had another shock coming.
THREE TERRIFYING DAYS LATER, SHE FOUND OUT THAT HER DAUGHTER HAD KIDNAPPED HERSELF!
It appears the 18-year-old girl wanted to go on a shopping spree to buy new clothes and shoes.
But her mother from KwaThema in Ekurhuleni, herself only 37 years old, had no money to spare, and certainly nothing to give to the child to splash out on luxury items.
That’s when the girl came up with a stupid plan that has landed her behind bars, facing the serious charge of extortion.
SAPS Captain Thabo Sibuyi said the girl pretended to be a kidnapper.
The girl sent the first message on Friday afternoon, making it look like it was a kidnapper sending a message from the girl’s phone.
Its terrifying message read: “I have your daughter and if you still need her, send R5 000 by the end of the week or we will kill her and you will never find her body.”
The desperate mum tried to call the number but there was no response.
At about the same time, the mum got a call from her own mother, the girl’s gogo. The gogo told her the girl had not returned from school.
The mother went to the police station to open a kidnapping case.
Later that night she received another message, even more frightening than the first.
“She is a fresh girl,” said the message.
“Don’t involve the police or else I will kill your beautiful daughter.”
By Sunday, the girl had not arrived home and, according to Sibuyi, the detectives started tracking the phone messages.
“The number appeared to be somewhere close to Soweto,” he said.
He said KwaThema cops drove to where the signal was leading them and the phone was detected between Freedom Park and Eldorado Park.
“Police drove there with the mother and she sent an SMS message, to which there was a response.
“The mother said she would deposit R200 to be collected at the Shoprite Checkers money market.”
Cops went to the Shoprite supermarket close to the area where they had tracked the phone, and the mother sent the pin to the “kidnapper’s” cell number.
The cops and the mother waited for about twenty minutes when the girl appeared, accompanied by a friend.
Cops arrested her.
She appeared in the Springs Magistrates Court on Monday for extortion.
“We applaud the detectives for the great work done in solving this case. We send a stern warning to other young people to think first before they do things that will land them in trouble,” said Sibuyi.
