Police in South Africa have arrested a 35-year-old nanny accused of kidnapping her employer’s baby after allegedly faking a pregnancy to extort money from her boyfriend.
The ordeal began on Saturday afternoon when the infant’s mother returned home to find the house disturbingly quiet, her child and the nanny were both missing. Alarmed, she immediately tried to contact the caregiver. According to police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Magwaza, the mother confronted the woman over the phone.
“The mother contacted the nanny asking her where she was as she had not consented to the child being taken from the house,” Magwaza said. But the nanny’s responses only deepened the panic. She first claimed to be in Empangeni, yet offered no credible explanation for taking the child without permission.
Magwaza explained further: “Communication between the mother and the nanny suggested that the mother needed to go alone to Empangeni to fetch her child.” Sensing something was terribly wrong, the mother refused to comply and instead reported the case at Durban Central Police Station.
Investigators quickly mobilized, and what they uncovered painted a startling picture. The nanny, police allege, had been deceiving her boyfriend into believing she had given birth to his child. She reportedly used the infant to support this falsehood, collecting R2,500 a month from the man under the pretense that it was for the baby’s care.
The discovery added urgency to the case. In the early hours of Sunday morning, police executed an operation in Empangeni, where they located the suspect and safely recovered the baby.
“The child was found unharmed and has been taken for precautionary medical examination,” Magwaza confirmed. The woman was taken into custody and is expected to appear before the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
The case has sparked widespread concern over the vulnerabilities of families employing domestic caregivers, while also highlighting how deception and financial desperation can fuel disturbing crimes.
