The mother of a toddler abandoned at a shopping complex in Khorixas last week has come forward to claim the child after learning about the incident through media reports on Monday.

Chief Inspector Vehangaiza Hindjou, who heads the community affairs department of the Namibian Police in the Kunene region, told Nampa  yesterday the woman was located in Outjo, and presented herself to the authorities.

She informed the police that she left the toddler at her father’s workplace so that he could assume responsibility for her care. “The mother wanted the father to take responsibility and support her, as she is struggling to take care of the child,” Hindjou said.

According to earlier reports, the two-year-old girl was allegedly handed to a teenager sitting in front of a local shopping complex by an unknown man in Khorixas on Thursday.

It is alleged that the man told the teenager he was going to retrieve the child’s belongings from his vehicle, but did not return. 

Chief Inspector Hindjou further stated that the father of the toddler is being interrogated by the police regarding the circumstances of the child’s abandonment. The case has been transferred to social workers for further intervention.
-Nampa