A desperate mother from Manenberg says she is at her wits’ end after her 10-year-old son was snatched by his father and taken to another country.
The hartseer mother of Maksudi Schrotz, 10, says she has been begging his dad for a year to return her son after he smuggled the child out of South Africa without her consent.
Mom Niccaylia Arries, 28, says she last saw Maksudi on 10 April 2022 when he was collected by his father, Ramadan Maksudi, from his home in Gail Court.
The couple met 11 years ago and the day Maksudi went missing he had been collected by his father who told Arries that they were going to the barber but she says they never returned.
Arries opened a missing persons report at Manenberg SAPS and says her worst fears were confirmed when the father contacted her for a copy of his son’s school report.
“Just like I was scared of, he took the child to Burundi,” she says.
“He contacted me on WhatsApp to ask for his report which I think is because he wanted to put the child in a school there. He has a copy of the child’s birth certificate but what I cannot understand is how did he smokkel the child out of the country without my consent.”
The distraught mom says she returned to the police station but was told she cannot be helped.
“This is my only child. I am sick and cannot go on without him. I am so desperate for help but when I go to the police station they say there is nothing they can do.”
Police spokesperson Joseph Swartbooi says: “Manenberg police confirm that a missing child enquiry was registered for further investigation. The child is not missing as the mother has contact with the boy and the person who took him from his residence with permission.”
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