Cape Town – Lieutenant Colonel Mike Barkhuizen says the first time he laid eyes on a girl at the centre of a 17-year-long kidnapping saga, he knew she was the baby kidnapped in 1997.

According to Netwerk24, Barkhuizen, who works for the Hawks, had been searching for the girl, now 17, for the past five years.

The results of the DNA tests were just a formality to him, he said. He knew instantly it was her after meeting her on the afternoon of 24 February.

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