Police in Bulawayo yesterday arrested a maid who had kidnapped her employers’ one-year eight-month-old son and drove off in their car.
19-year-old Kimberly Ncube was employed by a family from
Bulawayo’s Paddonhurst suburb and started work last Saturday, only to betray
her employers on Monday.
Following her arrest yesterday, the child was reconciled
with his parents at around midday, 24 hours after he was kidnapped.
According to police sources, Ncube was a commercial sex
worker operating at Palace Hotel in the city centre and a nightspot called
Kuvukiland in Cowdray Park.
Ncube was caught in Bulawayo’s Iminyela high-density suburb
outside a house when she was spotted by members of the public after an appeal
by police for members of the public to help locate her.
When she was apprehended the white BMW 318i car she had
made off with had run out of fuel.
Residents of Paddonhurst suburb said at around 11AM on
Monday, Ncube was seen racing through the neighbourhood with the toddler in
tow, nearly crashing next to the shopping centre in the suburb.
“The other side of the car bumper was falling down and
scratching the tar. We looked at the person who was driving wanting to see what
kind of a driver he or she was, as she kept on driving without care.
“One person tried to stop her; trying to fix the bumper,
that’s when we noticed it was a young girl and the child was inside and she was
wearing a black dress.
“She took off at a high speed and swerved on the road, she
hit two humps, nearly crashing into a tree.
The second she hit a hump and this one was after the shops
where that bumper fell off. When people started running to the car, she
reversed, leaving that bumper there, and sped off.”
Ncube and the toddler were then spotted by motorists in
Kelvin West industrial area near
Dairiboard, where she was reportedly filling up the car with someone else in
it.
According to police sources, Ncube drove the car to Cowdray
Park, Nketa and Njube to show off to her friends that she had made it in life.
“The accused went around the city visiting friends in
Cowdray Park, Njube and Nketa to show off she was now successful and driving a
BMW. Also, she claims that she wanted to go to her rural home to show her
parents that she had made it in life,” said the source.
Thereafter yesterday morning after driving around the city,
Ncube was forced to stop at Iminyela suburb, when the car ran out of fuel.
“Kimberly Ncube is a popular lady of the night with touts
operating at Palace Hotel and also Kuvukiland in Cowdray Park. When she was
caught she was at Number 1 (Iminyela suburb) and the car had run out of fuel.
“She had been calling her boyfriends and tout friends
looking for fuel money. She had no intention to go back because she knew that
her employers were looking for her,” said the source.
“Police acted on a tip-off from members of the public and
found the car parked outside a house in the suburb. They asked residents where
Ncube and the child were and they said she left with the child to look for
fuel. Police then laid an ambush and when she returned she was arrested,” said
the source.
Bulawayo Deputy Provincial Police spokesperson Assistant
Inspector Nomalanga Msebele said Ncube is being charged with kidnapping and
theft of a motor vehicle.
She said Ncube had registered with an agency and did not
produce identity documents.
Asst Insp Msebele urged employers to personally vet
employees.
“If you want to employ a person, vet them. Know their
relatives and also speak to them, so that when we start looking for someone we
know where to start. Here we were stuck because she gave a false address in
Nketa and she had no identity documents,” said Asst Insp Msebele.
She said employment agencies must thoroughly vet anyone who
wants to use them.
“A word to these employment agents is they have to vet the
people they register because the accused registered and just got employed,
there was no background check as to whether she was a thief, or what
considering that she was employed on October 26 and after two days she did
this,” said Asst Insp
She warned youths not to be involved in crime.
“To our youth, showing off isn’t everything. Stealing a car
and meeting with friends to show off. She is 19 years old and she is now facing
serious criminal charges and jail time. Besides that, her actions have
traumatised the child and the family,” said Asst Insp Msebele. Chronicle
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