Father faces charges of daughter's abduction to Zims

Taelo Stompie | Wednesday January 29, 2020 15:48

 

The accused, Nelson Mangena, who entered Botswana illegally, also crossed the border illegally with the child to Zimbabwe.

According to the prosecution, Mangena took his daughter, who is about five-years-old, after he agreed with the child’s mother, who is his ex-girlfriend that he wanted to spend the weekend with her as he normally did.

Mangena’s former girlfriend is a citizen of Botswana.

However, Mangena who hails from Zimbabwe never returned the child as he normally did, which prompted the police to look for the child known as Babe Betty and Mangena.

Betty is now under the custody of social workers in Zimbabwe awaiting extradition to Botswana after Mangena revealed her whereabouts in Zimbabwe to authorities in Botswana.

After Mangena revealed the whereabouts of Betty, Botswana police liaised with their colleagues in Zimbabwe through Interpol to locate the child.

Mangena was arrested at a bar in Tonota last year in September after an avid reader of a local publication, The Voice, having read the extensive coverage on the abduction, spotted him at a bar in Tonota and notified the police.

Mangena used to work in Tonota as a herdboy.

When Mangena appeared before Magistrate Celi Lebakeng this week, prosecutor Keneilwe Jeremiah told the court that the process of extraditing the child, who is known as Babe Betty is still ongoing.

“We will update the court about how far we are with our efforts to extradite the child to Botswana during the next mention,” Jeremiah said, adding that the process to extradite the child to Botswana is difficult because it involves authorities of two countries.

Mangena, who is charged with a count of ill-treatment of a child and another count of entering Botswana illegally, is due in court on February 11 for status report.

Mangena has been remanded in prison following his arrest.