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Mashudu Mambo Bulawayo Bureau

THE 17-YEAR-OLD maid from Filabusi who kidnapped her employer’s 20-months-old son before driving off in their white BMW car, was yesterday convicted of kidnapping and theft.

The accused girl was convicted by Bulawayo regional magistrate Mr Mark Dzira on her own plea of guilty to kidnapping and theft. She will be sentenced today.

Initially, the teenager whose pictures circulated on various social medial platforms before her arrest on Tuesday, had lied about her age purporting to be 19 years old.

However, upon her appearance in court yesterday, it was also established that she had also used a fake name.

Following her arrest, the baby was reconciled with his parents, 24 hours after the kidnap.

The teenager was a commercial sex worker operating at a local hotel and a nightspot in Cowdray Park.

She was caught in Bulawayo’s Iminyela high-density suburb outside a house when she was spotted by members of the public following an appeal by police for members of the public to help locate her.

When she was apprehended, the white BMW car she had made off with had run out of fuel.

Prosecuting, Mr Acquman Khupe said on October 31 at around 8.45 am, the accused person’s employer who is the complainant in the matter, left for work leaving the baby in the girl’s custody.

At around 10.30am, the complainant was then called by one Mthulisi Moyo whom she had sent to deliver wedding chairs at their house in Paddonhurst suburb.

Upon arrival, Moyo discovered that the gate and the door leading to the sitting room was open and there was no one in the house.

“When the complainant phoned the accused to establish her whereabouts, the accused insisted that she was at home. The complainant and her husband drove home only to find their white BMW missing from the yard,” said Mr Khupe.

The court heard that the couple also discovered that the accused and their son were also not at home. The complainant then called one Perseverance Sibanda, an agent who had assisted her to look for a maid so that she could help locate the accused person without success.

The complainant then reported the matter to the police leading to the arrest of the accused person the following day.

The teenage girl was arrested after detectives received a tip off from members of the public who had spotted her carrying the baby at a house in Iminyela suburb.

Upon her arrest, the accused led police to an area where she had parked the stolen car and the front bumper was extensively damaged.