A Gatesville resident who witnessed the kidnapping of eight-year-old Abirah Dekhta said the crime left her traumatized.
The woman was one of a number of community members who gathered at the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on Thursday – where seven men made their first appearance on charges of kidnapping and extortion.
Dekhta was rescued by police from a shack in Khayelitsha on Monday night almost two weeks after she was snatched from her scholar transport vehicle in Gatesville.
Isobel Pillay said the kidnapping of Dekhta’s dominated her thoughts.
The woman recalled how the kidnappers pulled up behind Dekhta’s scholar transport vehicle.
Armed with large guns, she explained, the kidnappers snatched the eight-year-old and drove off with her.
“It just goes in your mind all the time and you would be thinking ‘ooh my God what I saw today can happen to my grandchild’. This is really traumatizing. It’s not something nice to witness. You can’t do anything you are helpless.”
The Wynberg Magistrate’s Court heard that the seven men were found in and around the shack where Dekhta had been held captive after police received a tip-off that she was held in Khayelitsha’s Town Two area.
The accused are due back in the dock on 7 December for a formal bail application – which the State said it would oppose.
-EWN
In other news – DJ Lamiez Holworthy’s mom breathes fire after being questioned why her 3 kids do not look alike
South African DJ, Lamiez Holworthy-Morule‘s mom Imelda Klow, is fuming and she has come out guns blazing to clarify the identity of her children.
Klow who has three children named Lamiez, Lariezh, and Lushaan Holworthy, often gets dragged about why her children do look alike, and she has had enough of it now. It is no secret that Lamiez’s mom is sweet but she will do anything to protect her kids. Learn More