ON the 28th year anniversary of the disappearance of Matthew Ohlsson, who vanished from outside of his home in Mitchells Plain, his mother has shed light on her fears that he might have been trafficked.
Nearly three decades later, Michelle Ohlsson, an author, mother, grandmother and founder of Concerned Parents of Missing Children, shares how she grew to understand how others dealt with loss and feared that her son might have fallen victim to human trafficking.
The Westville Primary School learner disappeared on the morning of 24 March 24 1997, while collecting the refuse bin outside of his Westridge home.
Four years ago, a woman from Rocklands, Mitchells Plain, who was a child at the time of the disappearance, came forward stating she had seen a boy fitting Matthew’s description crying at the window of a neighbour’s home and handed the information over to the police.
This was also reported in the Weekend Argus' Cape Cold Cases series.
Mom Michelle, who shared that she has battled with herself just to carry on, says: “People will say if he wanted to come back, he would have come back already, people have no idea what the word human trafficking means.
“I have learnt what the word means and it is a terrible thing.
“Today there is more education about it, I had to educate myself.”
"I had to ask myself how did that happen, Melanie just came in and he [Matthew] just vanished.
“I had to build another character of myself for the sake of not going down. You need to have will power.”
She recalled that following Matthew’s disappearance, news headlines claimed he had run away due to abuse and that dented the case and her family’s life.
When asked about the investigation thus far regarding the child witness, police spokesperson, Wesley Twigg said there were no new developments to report and called on anyone with any information to contact Crime Stop on 08600 10111.
