• Being a normal sunny august morning, you would expect the perfect day, with regular school activities, your children whining about not wanting to go, your husband not being able to find the right tie to wear to work and many more. But on this ‘perfect’ day, my youngest daughter, only seven years old, went missing, at 9:00am, outside her school gates. This was not a perfect day for anyone, nor was it any easier, with media and press already at our doorstep.

    In 2001, on the 16th of May, my daughter Sophia Benedict, aged seven, was snatched from the gates of her primary school.


    As a Mother this is my Story…

    Quote: [As quoted by Elizabeth Southall, Mother of Rachel Southall, who at 15 dissapeared, and was murdered by a school friend. Her mother wrote the novel: A perfect Murder. This is dedicated to Mrs Southall and her family.
    ‘ A family is a unit, with a sense of belonging, even when separated by miles, even when separated by divorce, because everyone is aware of another’s being and location, somewhere on earth. Our unit suddenly found a piece of the jigsaw missing’

    Driving towards Sophia’s school i could see her friends waiting for her, happily jumping up and down on the spot, so excited to see her.
    Sophia has known her friends since she first started play group, and have been friends ever since, so I guess you could say it was only natural that they be excited.

    I stop the car out the front of the school, right infront of the gates, and watch her as she slowly walks in with her friends. As I drive off, I remember the last thing she says to me, before she gets out of the car, ‘I love you heaps mummy’. Little did I realize that those words would be the last I would ever hear.

    Driving back home, I decided to listen to some of Bob Marley’s finest tunes, and before I had the chance to play his music my phone rang….
    ‘Hello, Jacqueline’ said the voice. ‘It’s rose, Sophia’s teacher’ she replied.
    ‘Oh Hello Rose, you see a bit uneasy, is everything ok?’ I asked her intently.
    ‘Before I continue, have you dropped Sophia off at school already?’ she asked nervously.

    ‘Why yes, half an hour ago, why do you ask?’ I ask, and then came the reply that changed my life…
    ‘Jacqueline has not arrived to class, and nor have any of her friends seen her either’ she cried.

    These are the words that will forever haunt me, my daughter was snatched, from her own school.
    And yes, I know you must be screaming run away, but my Sophia would never runaway, she has no reason to.
    I drive home as fast as I can, and ring my husband to inform him of the sad news.

    Just as I go to make myself a cup of tea, a news bulletin comes on, telling a story of how girl’s body found, washed up on the river. As soon as I heard that my mind went into a spasm, and I immediately phoned the police, to arrange to I.D the victim, stating that she may be Sophia.
    It is late in the afternoon, I am at the river waiting to I.D the body they had found, and as soon as I saw the body, I went into shock….

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    Much love Sammiie <3