Boys found 550km from home: Hawker ‘takes’ Lambert’s Bay pals to Groot Brak, families demand answers
|Published
SAFE HOME: Trevor Andrews and McNeil Fortuin, both 13.
Two missing teen boys from Lambert’s Bay have been found 550km from home as questions emerge about a hawker who allegedly took them away for work.
The disappearance of Trevor Andrews and McNeil Fortuin, both aged 13, sparked panic in the small fishing town after their families reported that they had been missing for more than 10 days.
The pelle had disappeared within a day of each other and following a fruitless search, their families reached out for help last week to help trace them, amid fears that they had been kidnapped.
McNeil’s aunt, Catherine Tielings, said that just days after the boys’ pictures were circulated in the press, they received a call from cops saying they had found the laaities.
“We were contacted on Thursday night to say that they were found in Groot Brak Rivier,” she explained.
“McNeil spoke to me and said [that before their disappearance] he saw Trevor in the dorp and there was this man that they know from Wesbank, who is a hawker.
“He says Trevor was already on the bakkie and he didn’t want to leave him alone.
“The man said he was going to [nearby] Vredendal and McNeil asked if he would bring them back and they agreed [to go with].”
Catherine said the children were taken to various places to help the man hawk but both got a skrik when they woke up in Springbok, 345km away from home. He then drove around with them to various places on the back of his bakkie and eventually ended up in Groot Brak Rivier, 550km away, where he has a smallholding.
The boys were made to sell fruit. McNeil earned R100 and Trevor made R40. They slept in carboard boxes in the back of the bakkie.
Catherine said: “We were told by the police that after more than 10 days of having the children, a relative of this man contacted police after seeing the boys’ faces in the newspaper. He told them the children were in Groot Brak Rivier and the police went to fetch them.
“They were brought home and we were told they must go for medical exams but we are still waiting on the detectives.
“The social workers have been here and the boys say they were well-looked after and given food and so on, but as the family we have so many unanswered questions, such as why wasn’t this man arrested or investigated?”
Police spokesperson Malcolm Pojie confirmed the boys were found: “They were found in Groot Brak in the Southern Cape on 17 August and reunited with their loved ones in Lambert’s Bay.
“This after a vigilant reader alerted police of the whereabouts of the boys earlier this month. Further investigation and liaison between Lambert’s Bay and Groot Brak SAPS resulted in the unification of the boys with their relatives and loved ones”.
Pojie did not respond to questions about an arrest or further investigation, but Catherine wants answers: “We thank God they are safe but this could have turned out so differently. We believe that the man who took them must take responsibility.
“Yes, the children got on the bakkie (out of their own)but as the adult he should have known it was wrong to just take children without their parents’ consent.”