Gumtree baby mom in dock
The woman who attempted to sell her 19-month old son for R5 000 on Gumtree has made her first court appearance.
|||Durban - The young woman who attempted to sell her 19-month old son for R5 000 on Gumtree will apply for bail in the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court next Monday.
The 20-year-old woman from Azalea Township near Imbali, who cannot be named to protect the identity of her child, appeared briefly on Friday, when she was remanded for a formal bail application on October 26. She faces a charge of contravening the Human Trafficking Act.
The woman was arrested in a police sting after she posted an advert on Gumtree last Saturday offering to sell her son for R5 000.
Police spokesman, Constable Mthokozisi Ngobese, said this was her second alleged attempt to sell the child online.
The advert has since been removed from the website.
The undercover sting operation was conducted at the KFC outlet in Chief Albert Luthuli Street on Thursday afternoon.
Ngobese said the woman was arrested by officer Jageesh Devnarain “JD” Singh and other members of the Hawks, who swung into action after they were informed of the advert.
“Various police departments followed up on the information on Gumtree and arranged to meet the woman at a restaurant in the city centre,” Ngobese said.
He said a female officer had contacted the woman and discussed the fee and made arrangements to meet her. The policewoman then met the mother, with the toddler present where they bought the mother ice cream and negotiated the deal.
Ngobese said the woman explained that she wanted to sell the child because his father was not providing any financial support for him.
Police handed over R5 000 to her in duplicated notes and she said her goodbyes to the baby. As she left the restaurant, the rest of the police team surrounded her and she was arrested.
The Hawks’s Hangwani Mulaudzi said they had established that the woman was the biological mother but were currently trying to establish the father’s paternity.
Meanwhile, the woman’s relatives told the Daily News on Friday they were shocked by her actions. The woman’s brother said she had informed them on Thursday that she was taking her son to visit his father. “We had no idea she was planning to sell him. We don’t know what came over her. She could have come to us for help. We can’t believe this,” he said.
Daily News
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