The mother of a baby boy snatched from a Cape Town mall has begged her son’s kidnapper for his safe return.
Imaan Sharmar left 11-day-old Mogamat with a woman she believed to be a healthcare worker while she used the bathroom on June 28.
But, when the 25-year-old returned, she was horrified to find both her baby and the woman had vanished without a trace.
‘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,’ Imann told Cape Argus.
‘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.’
The woman had gained Imaan’s trust after she visited her while she was pregnant, pretending to be a community sponsor.
The mother of an 11-day-old baby boy who was snatched from a mall in Cape Town has begged her son’s kidnapper for his safe return. Pictured: Imaan Sharmar
Imaan Sharmar, left her child, Mogamat (pictured) , with a woman who she believed to be healthcare worker while she used the bathroom on June 28
She reportedly identified herself as ‘Chivon’ and claimed she was from The Zoe Project in Retreat.
The Zoe Project is a well-established NGO that has been providing maternal health care programmes for vulnerable women, girls and babies for roughly 25 years.
Dressed in nursing attire, Chivon 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 the woman had collected Imaan and her child in an Uber to take them to a workshop at Middestad Mall in Bellville.
She said the woman ordered them both a meal and that she started feeling ill shortly after eating.
‘As we were sitting, I eventually stood up, handed my child to the woman and threw up inside a bin next to me,’ Imaan told News 24.
‘The woman had my bag, her bag and my baby on her. When I came out of the toilet, she was gone. I wasn’t even in the toilet for five minutes,’ she added.
But, when when Imaan returned, the woman had vanished.
The distraught mother began frantically searching for her baby before calling the police.
When she came back from the bathroom in Middestad Mall, Cape Town, Imaan’s baby had vanished
Western Cape police spokesperson Warrant Officer Joseph Swartbooi said the investigation continues.
Founder of The Zoe Project, Tracey Aitken, told News24 that her NGO had no knowledge of the mother of the missing baby nor had it had any dealings with her.
Missing Children organisations said the case has similar hallmarks to other recent abductions including that of two-month-old Kai-isha Meniers, who was snatched from her pram outside of a supermarket in 2022.
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.’
