WATCH: Mother pleads for the safe return of kidnapped baby amid rising adoption syndicate fears

The latest kidnapping of a baby in Cape Town may have raised the lid on a syndicate of backdoor adoptions, where the perpetrators pretend to be sponsors, healthcare workers or social workers, as they prey on unsuspecting mothers.

During a heart-wrenching interview with the Cape Argus on Monday, the mother of nine day old Mogamat Imaad Sharmar - Imaan Sharmar, 25, of Strandfontein, also known as Britney Brandt, poured her heart out, begging her son’s kidnapper to return him back home safely.

The infant was born on June 19 at Mitchell’s Plain District Hospital in Lentegeur.

He weighed 2.1kg and was the second child born to Imaan, who embraced Islam and has a 3-year-old daughter.

On Saturday, June 28, Imaad was kidnapped by a coloured woman, believed to be between the ages of 35 and 40-years-old, who fluently spoke Afrikaans.

The young mother said she had gained the woman’s trust in May when she was 35 weeks pregnant as she had visited her home using a possible alias and pretended to be a sponsor.

Dressed in nursing attire, the suspect was keen to register Imaan to a programme that assisted mothers who had given birth, with counselling and skills.

On the day of the kidnapping, Imaan said she was supposed to attend a workshop and that the woman and her traveled from her home in Strandfontein using an Uber to Middestad Mall in Bellville, where a meal from Hungry Lion was shared.

Imaan said the woman had befriended her at her home, under the pretense of doing work as a community sponsor and was armed with documentation

“The first time I met her she came to my home, I never met her before," she said.

“When we went to the mall, it was the second occasion.

“I do not know how she knew where I lived.

“She had my information, we are still trying to find out how.

“The first time she came here, I was 35, almost 36 weeks pregnant.

“She asked me how the pregnancy was going and what services she could offer me.

“It was like the Zoey Project, it was like a post natal programme, providing counselling for postpartum. She said she would be taking classes, art and crafts and how to handle the baby, obviously I did know how to look after a baby as I have another child.

“‘I have support from both sides of my family.

“After that first occasion, she did mention that she needs to register me in the program and that I could receive products.

“She contacted me in the week to say we will attend a  workshop and that the baby had to be with and that it would be at the Civic Centre in Bellville.”

She said the woman ordered her and herself a meal to eat at Hungry Lion and that she started feeling ill shortly after eating and was forced to leave the infant with her for a few minutes while using the toilet as she had vomited.

She explained when she returned, the woman had vanished and she began the frantic search and contacted the police and centre management for CCTV footage.

Missing Children organisations said the case has similar hallmarks to that of missing two-month-old Kai-isha Meniers, who was kidnapped in April 2022 outside of a supermarket in Bishop Lavis.

Video footage was released showed how her snatcher walked off with the baby, by a stranger who pretended to be eight-months-pregnant and who had befriended the mother, Francis Meniers by offering to buy and donate clothes to the baby.

She told of how she started feeling ill and started vomiting, allowing the woman to keep the baby while she was in the toilet, only to return and find the woman had vanished with him.

“It does not feel right not having him here. The day I gave birth, that was when my whole life was complete,” said Imaan in tears, surrounded by her mother, Deborah Brandt and her mother-in-law, Nabilah Saghar.

“I don’t know what her intentions were and what she was doing with him in these three days, it has been driving me crazy, I do not know if he drank anything, or what he has been given to drink.

“Does he have clothing on? is his nappy being changed? 

“Is she hurting him? My mind is running so far away from me, my body is filled with anger.

“Whatever your name is, I don’t know if the name you gave me, if it is your real name, please, if you want to do it anonymously, drop him off somewhere safe, with warm clothes on, wrap him in his three blankets, leave him, tip us off where he is.

“I am literally a a point of begging, whoever you are working with, bring him back, he is only a week old, he needs my milk, he needs to be home.

“I trusted her that much, she got a way to manipulate me.

“The minute I close my eyes, I see her face and his.”

Another is that of fifteen month old Imvano Yeko of Somerset West who was given to an unknown woman who had befriended the caregiver and offered to buy them food and chips. The woman later dropped the infant’s  sister in Main Road, Nomzamo.

Bianca Van Aswegen, National Co-ordinator for Missing Children SA: "Similarities to this cases is quite scary, I am thinking is this a new trend, is it linked to illegal adoptions, what is the motive behind these types of crimes, especially people pretending to be a sponsor in the new case or a social worker, to get access to these babies, it might lead to illegal adoptions.

“This broadens the safety to access information of new mothers, DSD registered social workers, are they being vetted, social workers and sponsors, what is the link there, it opens a lot of questions.”

Candice van der Rheede of Western Cape Missing Children  also cautioned mothers and said it had similarities.

“We need to start urging people to also stop posting their personal information on social media,” said she said.

“There is no new information in Kai-isha and Imvano’s cases, we will not give up.

“There are so many similarities to the Kai-isha case when comparing this case of the abby boy who was abducted."

Police spokesperson, Sergeant Wesley Twigg said they were following up on all leads in baby Imaad’s case.

Police also confirmed there were no new developments in Kai-isha or Imvano’s case.

Esther Lewis, spokesperson for the Department of  Social Development said they were not not aware of illegal adoption syndicates, but urge anyone with information to that effect to report it to the police.

“We urge all prospective adoptive parents to ensure the agency they are using is accredited, ”she said.

“All adoption agencies must be accredited by the national Department of Social Development. This accreditation must be renewed within five years.”

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