Sister’s search for missing twin

VERONISHA Adams is on a nationwide hunt for her sister, who went missing 32 years ago, and she hopes to find her by using her own face.

Veronique was kidnapped on March 6, 1989 while in the care of her nanny in Extension 9, Eldorado Park in Gauteng. She was just 11 months old.

But Veronisha and Veronique have a thing in common: they are identical twins.

Missing Children SA’s Facebook page posted the flyer of the missing twin which reached over 7 000 people and had over 4000 shares and 311 comments.

Since the post went live, the Adams family has received a few responses but say nothing concrete has landed in their hands yet to conduct a DNA test or contact the police to assist.

A woman from Durban has since reached out to the family in search of her birth parents, and images of her has since been shared with the twins’ mother, Junice Adams, 71.

The family said they were eager to follow up on all leads. “A woman in Durban has sent pictures of herself and it has been sent to my mother, but again, it will have to be looked at, and at this stage there is nothing concrete. We are open to DNA testing.”

Three years ago, the family carried out DNA testing of another woman whom they believed could potentially be their long-lost Veronique.

“We have done DNA testing before – three years ago with another woman. Unfortunately, the result was negative.”

Veronisha’s face was placed on flyers alongside the picture of her missing twin. Posters of the missing twin had also been displayed when they were 24 in 2013.

Veronisha, who now lives in Johannesburg, had been in the care of her nanny, named “Beauty”, which the family believes was an alias. Their 5-year-old sister had also been present.

The nanny had recently been employed and was to provide personal information, including her identity document and address, but never did.

Veronisha spoke to Weekend Argus this week, detailing the day her sister went missing after it was retold to her by her mother and uncle, as she was just a baby at the time of the disappearance.

“We were in the care of the nanny that day, including my sister who was 5 years old,” she said. “My uncle lived around the corner and he would always visit us during the course of the day.

“When he arrived at our home, he noted that my twin sister was gone. He immediately alerted my mother and that is how the search began, and that time the family had to wait 24 hours before she could be officially reported missing.

“The nanny had said her name was Beauty, but that probably was not her real name. An identikit was drawn up back then and it was circulated.”

“I had the flyer updated this year since we are in our thirties, and the response has been overwhelming on Facebook,” Veronisha said. The twins’ mother, Junice, said she still believes police could have found her child the same day she vanished if they had begun an immediate search and not waited for 24 hours.

She remembers receiving a frantic phone call from her brother, who informed her that their nanny had disappeared with Veronique.

“My brother worked night shift and would often pop in during the day,” said Junice. “When he arrived at the house, he saw that the nanny and Veronique were gone. He called me, asking whether I had sent Beauty somewhere with Veronique, and I said ‘no’ and he said I must come home immediately.

“When we went to the police station, they said we need to wait 24 hours. But I believe if the police didn’t wait, I would have had my child today. Schoolchildren saw the nanny with the baby that day. While we were at the police station, she passed the schoolchildren in the street and they asked whether she needed help, and she refused it.

“Later that day, I stood in the front yard with Veronisha and the children asked me whether I had found my baby. I said ‘no’, this is her twin sister’. They told me the story of how they had seen her.”

Junice believes the kidnapper gave her daughter a different name: “When she started working by me, she said her identity document was in Durban with her previous employers. She said she will go to Durban during the Easter holidays to get it.”

National co-ordinator for Missing Children SA Bianca van Aswegen said they had shared the flyer and that there were no new leads on the case and that their organisation relied on donations: “It is a really an old case, and unfortunately, no new leads have come in regarding her. We are in need of financial assistance from corporations or public donations.

“We rely on sponsorship and donations to keep our organisation going and to be able to assist in all the cases of missing persons in SA.”

Missing Children SA was started in March 2007. Visit the site at www. missingchildren.org.za.

Their emergency number is 072 647 7464.

National police spokesperson Colonel Brenda Muridili said the media query was sent to Division Detective and Forensic Services for assistance but they referred her to the Gauteng provincial office as they are unable to locate the case on the system due to the time lapsed since it was reported.