GEORGE NEWS - The man who was arrested for picking up a three-year-old girl and walking off with her in New Harvest in Eden Meander Lifestyle Centre on Sunday 15 May, briefly appeared in the George Magistrate’s Court earlier this morning, 4 July.
According to police, Mvuyisi Zweni (33) was employed as a security guard at the store at the time of the incident.
He was arrested a few days after the incident and made his first court appearance on a charge of kidnapping on Wednesday 25 May where he was released on bail of R500.
His next court appearance will be on 4 August after the case was postponed today for further investigation into the matter.
The incident
CCTV video footage taken in the store shows the accused, at the time employed at New Harvest, picking up the little girl and making off with her.
The toddler's six-year-old brother can be seen alerting their mother who had her back turned for a few seconds as she was perusing the content of the dairy shelf. The boy shouted that a man had taken his sister through a set of PVC strip curtains into the storeroom. On the footage it is clear that the mother immediately races in the direction in which the man and her daughter disappeared. About 15 seconds later she returns with her crying daughter in her arms.
She told George Herald that shortly after retrieving her daughter from the man, he came to her in the store while she was holding and calming her daughter and apologised saying, "I'm sorry. I like children. I wanted to play with her...". This conversation happened off-camera.
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