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Accused kidnappers Piet van Zyl, Laetitia Nel and Tharina Human are seen during the kidnapping case of Amy’Leigh de Jager.
Daan Vivier, Gallo Images, Netwerk24, archive
- The father of a girl from Vanderbijlpark who was abducted in September last year says he is relieved the case is finally over.
- The four defendants were convicted of kidnapping and attempted extortion.
- They reached a plea and sentencing agreement with the State in Gauteng Superior Court in Palm Ridge.
The father of a Vanderbijlpark girl, Amy’Leigh de Jager, who was abducted in September last year, believes justice was served after the defendants were found guilty and sentenced on Thursday.
Tharina Human, Laetitia Nel, Pieter Jacobus van Zyl and Bafokeng Molemohi entered into plea and sentencing agreements with the State in Gauteng High Court in Palm Ridge.
READ | Amy’Leigh kidnapping: 4 found guilty and sentenced
They were convicted of kidnapping and attempted extortion.
The girl’s father, Wynand de Jager, said:
I am happy that it has come to an end so that we can move on with our lives and my daughter can start living a normal life as a girl and we can start looking forward now to improve her as my daughter and improve her way of life. alive.
READ: Amy’Leigh’s mother opens up about kidnapping: ‘She can’t manage it, it’s been two months of hell’
When asked how the kidnapping affected the family, De Jager’s attorney, Ockert Vermaak, said there was a case in juvenile court involving the biological mother.
“The matter was opened in March of this year. The children [are] placed on your [the father] primary care. For reasons that are quite clear in the juvenile court matter. And the things that came out in the juvenile court are basically the reason for placing the children with him. “
Vermaak declined to elaborate on the matter.
Brain
Human, the 27-year-old RR grade teacher who is said to be the mastermind, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and Van Zyl received an eight-year sentence.
Molemohi was sentenced to seven years behind bars and Nel received five years.
News24 previously reported that the four men took Amy’Leigh from her mother’s car at Laerskool Kollegepark and drove off in a white Toyota Fortuner.
The police launched a chase while her distraught parents waited at the Vanderbijlpark police station for news.
The kidnappers initially demanded R2 million for their release. Amy’Leigh’s kidnappers left her, between 02:00 and 02:30, on a street near The Shakespeare Inn in Vanderbijlpark on September 3.
READ ALSO: Amy’Leigh cried all night, didn’t want to go back to school
A man and a woman took her to the police station where she was reunited with her parents.
Human was a close friend of the De Jager family.
She was the teacher of Amy’Leigh’s younger brother.
Human allegedly orchestrated the kidnapping to pay off a debt to drug traffickers, News24 previously reported.
