The Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) ordered that an unnamed place of safety and the police return twin girls to their parents after they were ‘lost’ in the social care system for four days following their parents arrest.

The arrests came about when police stopped and searched their vehicle and allegedly found drugs and drug paraphernalia on a man they had been giving a lift, notes Legalbrief.

A search of his daughter’s toy box revealed live pistol ammunition. ‘They put us all in cuffs and took us down to the police station. When we got there, the guy confessed that the bullets were his. But it was too late – we all needed to be arrested,’ the children’s mother is quoted as saying in a TimesLIVE report.

According to the report, the couple desperately called relatives to come and fetch the twins. An estranged aunt arrived. ‘She assaulted me in the police station and accused me of putting my children in danger. The police just let her take my children,’ alleged the mother. After the couple appeared in court, where unlawful possession of ammunition charges against them were withdrawn, they called the aunt.

‘She had gone and dropped my girls at a place of safety, but wouldn’t tell us where it was. She gave us a number and all the people would tell us is that the girls were fine, but that we couldn’t bring them home,’ said the woman. The couple said police did not follow protocol when removing the children from their care. The couple said they found the required paperwork had not been done and officers had ‘no idea’ where the children were.

The desperate parents then turned to the High Court. Citing police management as respondents, they demanded the return of their children. Alternatively, if the police could not bring the children to court, they wanted the court to order that they immediately commence with a kidnapping investigation. Acting Judge Anthony Millar said the girls had been wrested from the arms of their parents in what could only be described as a travesty.

He ordered that the twins be brought to court immediately.

Attorneys acting for the police countered by insisting that allegations of abuse had been made against the parents, but these allegations were not substantiated in court, notes TimesLIVE. Beyond reuniting the family, Millar ordered the Family Advocate to investigate and bear out the veracity of abuse claims.

Police spokesperson Colonel Noxolo Kweza said that officers did not remove the children from the custody of their parents. She said it was their mother who handed them to an aunt.

Full TimesLIVE report