Woman (24) jailed for kidnapping six-year-old

A WOMAN from Kensington on the outskirts of Bulawayo who kidnapped a six-year-old girl before demanding a $2,000 ransom from her family was yesterday sentenced to an effective four years in prison.

Nontokozo Moyo, 24, was convicted on her own plea of guilty to kidnapping when she appeared before Esigodini resident magistrate Lungile Ncube.

Charges against Moyo are that on Thursday last week, she kidnapped the minor (name supplied), a Grade One pupil at Sihlengeni Primary School in Siphezini under Chief Sigola's area. Moyo followed the child from her school before luring her away at Sihlengeni Business Centre.

She took the pupil to her boyfriend's house in Bulawayo's Matsheumhlophe suburb where she kept the child inside a vehicle in the garage. Moyo then called the child's guardians demanding $2,000 in exchange for her release after threatening them not to involve the police as the move would diminish their chances of ever seeing her alive again. The woman started by calling the child's uncle, Ishmael Ncube, demanding that he pays for her release.

However, Ncube reported the matter to the police. Police officers, working on a tip-off, raided the boyfriend's house on Friday and found the child locked in a car inside the garage. Moyo claimed she kidnapped the child so that she could raise $2,000 to clear a debt.