Arabella Horwood.
Image: Supplied
AN APPEAL in the POST last week, led to the rescue of a teenage girl who had been kidnapped and held captive at an informal settlement for two months, after she had been reported missing.
The teenager disappeared while running a routine errand for her mother in Glenhills, was reunited with her family this week.
The girl disappeared on the morning of January 25, after leaving home to visit a nearby shop. What initially appeared to be an ordinary outing quickly turned into a distressing mystery, as days passed with no sign of her whereabouts.
Her mother, Irene Horwood, 36, a local hairdresser, described the moment she finally received a breakthrough on Monday.
“I am so relieved that my daughter has been found. On Monday I got a lead from someone who saw the article in the POST. They recognised my daughter as someone they had seen in Lindelani. They said my child was being kept in a home.”
According to Horwood, previous leads had led to dead ends, but this time she felt hopeful.
Accompanied by her employer and police, she went to the identified location.
“When we got there, I stayed in the car while the police questioned the man in the house. He is known to me. He denied knowing anything about my daughter’s whereabouts.”
Horwood said she then confronted the man directly, but he insisted that he lived alone.
Suspicion grew when they noticed a pair of her daughter’s shoes outside a neighbouring structure.
“We started searching around the house and called out her name. Eventually, she was found locked up,” Horwood said.
Arabella was discovered in a traumatised state. She was immediately taken to hospital, where medical examinations reportedly supported her account of alleged abuse.
The suspect, who allegedly knew the child prior to the incident, has been arrested. Horwood confirmed she has opened a case of abduction.
Horwood was told by her daughter that she encountered the man while on her way to the store.
He had previously worked as a maintenance worker at her primary school and was known to her.
“The uncle owed her money and told her he would take her for a surprise to pay her back. Because she knew him, she did not suspect anything.”
Instead, the man allegedly took her to a home in Lindelani, where she was held captive and allegedly abused her.
“For the first few days, he locked her up with no food and only a bucket for a toilet. He would return every two days, give her food, force her to drink alcohol, and then leave again.”
Arabella told her mother she was denied basic hygiene and repeatedly begged to be released, but her pleas were ignored.
“She is scared and traumatised. As a mother, I am broken. I do not want to let her out of my sight.”
Horwood has expressed a desire to relocate her daughter to ensure her safety and recovery.
“I need this monster to be exposed. No child should have to live with the trauma my girl has been through,” she added.