Cape Town traffic officer recalls dramatic kidnapping rescue after 26 years

Traffic officer Andre Rautenbach returned eight-month-old Brett, who was kidnapped from his Camps Bay home on May 3, 2000.
Traffic officer Andre Rautenbach returned eight-month-old Brett, who was kidnapped from his Camps Bay home on May 3, 2000. Picture: Supplied

Twenty-six years ago, a dramatic act of bravery by a Cape Town traffic officer captured the heart of the nation.

Sunday, May 3 marked the 26th anniversary of an eight-month-old Brett being kidnapped from his Camps Bay family home, being traced and found by a Mitchell's Plain traffic officer in Bo-Kaap. 

Retired traffic officer, Andre Rautenbach, who now lives in Kraaifontein, told the Atlantic Sun on Tuesday, May 5, matching the date in 2 000 when the story broke in newspapers nationwide, that he would do it again and prayed that his story inspires Capetonians today to care and "be obedient to God".

Earlier this year, he launched his book  Fifteen Minutes That Changed Everything: Darkness Leads to Ultimate Glory, which documents the events and accounts from the kidnapped Brett, his parents, and their reunion.

Mr Rautenbach said his main aim was to return Brett to his parents. 

"I did not do it for fame or glory. At the time, I thought about myself as a parent of two children, aged two and six, and what I would do if it were my children," he said. 

The minute he took Brett out of the vehicle found in Bo-Kaap, he bonded with the baby.

"I think of him as a son from another mother, and he regards me as a father," he said. 

Mr Rautenbach, then a traffic officer, caught the radio alert.

Brett, from America, with retired traffic officer Andre Rautenbach, who returned him to his parents hours after being kidnapped from their Camps Bay family home 26 years ago.
Brett, from America, with retired traffic officer Andre Rautenbach, who returned him to his parents hours after being kidnapped from their Camps Bay family home 26 years ago. Picture: Supplied

Driven by intuition - what he describes as "God speaking to him" - he spotted a suspicious white BMW without number plates.

He found the abandoned car, and, following a faint cry, discovered Brett crammed beneath the passenger seat. 

Mr Rautenbach said it was about being oblivious to the noise around oneself. 

"If this one life-changing moment or someone reads my book or this story and it has a positive impact to change his or her life, to realise that there is a God above and that there are good people in the world around us," he said.

He said in today's world, people walk past each other and they mind their own business.

"But it needs to be known that we need more good people and they are out there," he said.

He said that day he had to block out the voices and focus on what God was telling him.

"God is not going to touch anyone's mind, heart, and soul. That day I was only an instrument there, and God chose me to return this son back to his parents," he said. 

Shortly after the attempted kidnapping, Brett and his family immigrated to America, where they still live today.

However, the family returns to the Mother City for holidays, and Brett returned for his engagement in Cape Town, which Mr Rautenbach attended. 

It was Brett's future in-laws at the time that inspired him to put pen to paper about a year ago. 

Brett also attended the book launch in January. 

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