Wife of man declared dead after Al-Qaeda abduction begs for his return

Weeks after she obtained a court order declaring that her Al-Qaeda kidnapping victim husband Christo was presumed dead, Amanda Bothma says she still lives in hope that he will come home "and I can hug him again".

In an exclusive interview with News24, Amanda says she was overjoyed by news that, following the intervention of Gift of the Givers, abducted paramedic Gerco van Deventer had finally been released by Al-Qaeda – and was expected to return to his family in the coming weeks.

"I’m just very glad for them, I'm so glad for them, that finally he can be free and he can come home. I mean, it's six years," Amanda said, after revealing she had previously been in contact with Van Deventer's family and hoped he'd "be home before Christmas".