A woman whose panicked family contacted police after her sudden disappearance has been arrested and charged with child neglect after she was found in a tavern.
Community members alerted the SAPS to her whereabouts.
Johannesburg: A woman whose panicked family contacted police after her sudden disappearance has been arrested and charged with child neglect after she was found in a tavern.
The mother of three had been missing for five days. Community members alerted police to the fact that she was at a tavern.
She was expected to appear in the Bushbuckridge Magistrate’s Court on Monday to face a charge of child neglect.
Police released a picture of the woman last week, asking South Africans to help them look for the 23-year-old woman whose mother said she had suddenly disappeared, leaving her three children aged five, four and nine months.
The woman, from Violet Bank around Bushbuckridge, was said to have left home between the evening of Friday April 9 and the morning of Saturday, April 10.
She did not inform her family where she was going.
Her mother, who lives with her and her children, told police that she heard her nine-month-old grandchild’s cries from the bedroom.
She went to check on the child and found that her daughter was not there.
The matter was reported to the police on April 13 after growing concerns from her family regarding her disappearance.
Mpumalanga police spokesperson Colonel Donald Mdhluli said they launched a search party.
“She was found at a certain tavern on Friday April 16. This was after information surfaced from members of the public that she was seen in one of the taverns at Violet Bank near Bushbuckridge.
“The police management in Mpumalanga would like to thank members of the public for the valuable information they provided to police which has led to a breakthrough and apparent arrest of the woman who allegedly left her three children unattended,” Mdhuli said.
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