Two missing Cradock sisters have been found by police at a shelter for homeless people just outside of Pretoria in Gauteng and the girls’ biological parents have been arrested for kidnapping, Eastern Cape police say.
“The Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual offences Unit in Cradock reacted on a tip-off from the public and managed to arrest the couple at the shelter,” police spokesperson Captain Lariane Jonker said on Tuesday.
The Herald reported that the girls, aged 12 and five, were reported missing by their grandfather – who is also their legal guardian – on Friday evening.
The girls had failed to return home to him following a visit to their parents’ house in Cradock earlier that day.
The sisters had been dropped off by a social worker that day.
“The minors were kept for safe keeping at the South African Relief Project until they were handed over into the care of their legal guardian, the grandfather,” Jonker said.
The couple, aged 31 and 35, will appear in the Themba Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday on charges relating to kidnapping and the contravention of a court order.
