Alleged child snatcher Moehydien Pangaker is on his way back to Cape Town where the desperate family of missing eight-year-old Tazne van Wyk and police are waiting for him to provide answers.
Two weeks after police launched a manhunt for the 54-year-old, accused of kidnapping the young girl in Clare Street, Ravensmead, he was nabbed in Cradock and on Tuesday made his first appearance at the Cradock Magistrates’ Court on kidnapping charges, while the search for Tazne continues.
Officers of the Western Cape Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit (FCS) along with Crime Intelligence, pounced on Pangaker on Monday night in the Eastern Cape town, but did not find the meisie with him.
CHARGED: Alleged snatcher Moehydien Pangaker, 54
He has denied that the girl was with him.
The child’s distraught mother,
Carmen, 28, says she is worried sick and was taken to a doctor after suffering severe abdominal pains.
“I want to know if they are bringing him back here,” she said.
“I have stomach pains and I went to the doctor and he gave me medicine.
“They told me it’s because I am not sleeping, hardly eating because I am worried about my child. I want to look him in the face and ask him where my child is.”
Tazne was last seen on 7 February, when she left her home to buy a sucker, just metres from her house.
ABDOMINAL PAINS: Mom Carmen van Wyk
Police spokesperson Brigadier Novela Potelwa told the Daily Voice on Wednesday that Pangaker had appeared in court on Tuesday and was en route to Cape Town where he may face additional charges depending on the outcome of the interview with detectives here.
When the Daily Voice visited
Tazne’s home on Tuesday, news of his arrest spread across the Cape Flats, and a group of men warned that they plan to moer Pangaker if he ever came home.
“ Hy gaan op sy p*** kry,” one angry man was heard saying.
STILL MISSING: Tazne van Wyk, 8
Last week Ravensmead residents rioted after rumours surfaced that Pangaker had been spotted near a local school.
A brawl broke out between rival gangs in the area as they fought over who would get to kill him.
Meanwhile, Community Safety MEC Albert Fritz says he is still offering a R10 000 reward for information on the location of Tazne.