Durbanites Desperately Trying to Locate Baby Simphiwe, Stolen in Hijacking

A one-month-old baby girl – Simphiwe – is missing in South Africa after her mother’s vehicle was hijacked in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, earlier on Friday.

According to the South African Police Services (SAPS), the stolen car has since been found abandoned south of Durban, in Montclair… but the baby was not found inside.

SAPS said: “A one month old baby is still missing after a hijacking occurred today at 11:45, at Game City, Durban. The vehicle has been found abandoned in Montclair. The baby with the child seat was not in the vehicle.

“The mother, her eight-year-old boy and a one month baby were seated in their white Toyota Yaris when two men armed with firearms accosted them.

“They demanded the car keys and fled with their vehicle and one one month baby inside the vehicle. Anyone with information is urged to contact their nearest police station or call 10111.”

Management of the City View Shopping Centre have told local media that the hijacking and abduction did not take place at the centre. According to East Coast Radio (ECR), it allegedly occurred in the vicinity of Matthews Meyiwa Road (ex-Stamford Hill) and First Avenue.

Conflicting reports claim the woman had been walking to her car, with her two children, when they were accosted by the suspects.

Residents in Montclair say they are doing all they can to help find the baby. #HelpFindDurbanBaby.

UPDATE 17H00 SA TIME: SAPS has posted the above photo. We presume it is a photo of the missing infant; and confirmed the baby missing is a little girl. She was only wearing a vest and nappy.

UPDATE 18h30: Mashall Security have made a public appeal for information regarding the missing infant. They describe her as of black ethnic origin, light in complexion. She had a white long sleeve vest, and nappy, on.

A reward of R20,000 is being offered for any useful information leading to the safe return of the baby – R10,000 was offered by an anonymous caller to ECR; and ECR’s Phat Joe offered another R10,000.

In the latest local reports, the mother is named as Sibongile Mbango. She was in her car, with her children, at the intersection of First Avenue and Stamford Hill Road – near to Game City – when the two armed men accosted her and forced her and her son out of the car.

In a radio interview, she pleaded: “Please, please, please help me find my child.”

A spokesperson for Marshall Security told local reporters that the baby may have been the target, and that “at this point it may be a domestic issue and the police are investigating this”.