Online Reporter
The Gauteng woman, who was allegedly abducted for three days while on her way to church before she was miraculously dumped by her captors at a petrol station, has declined to open a criminal case with the police.
Mbalenhle Nkomo’s family said they will no longer give Sowetan interviews on the matter.
Gauteng police spokesperson Col Mavela Masondo told Sowetan on Tuesday that Nkomo, 34, has declined to press kidnapping charges after being found bound inside her vehicle at a Johannesburg petrol station on Sunday afternoon.
“The victim came to the police station and stated that she doesn’t want to open a criminal case and provided her reasons. Her car was given back to her,” Masondo said, without elaborating why the police released a car used in committing of an alleged crime.
Nkomo’s husband, Sandile Nkomo, had opened a case of a missing person with the police on August 2 after his wife did not return home from an all-night prayer service at a church in Newtown.
Sandile had told Sowetan that Nkomo was intercepted along the M2 by gun-wielding men before she reached the church. She told her family that the abductors allegedly drove with her from Gauteng to Ladysmith, KZN, and came back with her after they allegedly realised they had taken the wrong person.
Nkomo’s reappearance became a talking point on social media, with some users raising suspicion about her story.
Masondo said the case of a missing person has since been closed.
Sowetan contacted Nkomo, who expressed frustration with how the media has been covering the story.
“I have noticed how you craft your articles to suit your narrative on this matter. I will be giving all that information to other media houses that will relay it the way I say it. I will not be commenting further on this matter, thanks. People would rather see a #Justice4Mbalenhle post than one where she was released untouched.”
Nkomo, a beautician by trade, has since removed her social media accounts —SowetanLIVE.
Mathew Masinge