The Mitchells Plain community is on high alert after the alleged kidnapping of two boys, aged 12 and 15.
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The boys were playing in the street when a man in a Suzuki Ertiga approached them, asking for directions. According to eyewitness Charmaine Smith (61) the man asked the boys to help him find Snowden Street.
‘He handed them his phone and asked for help. The two boys got into the car and swore at the third boy who stayed with me. I tried to stop them, but they wouldn’t listen. I quickly noted the license plate as the car sped off. The driver circled my house three times before the community finally apprehended him,’ Smith said.
The mother of the 12-year-old shared that her son was deeply shaken by the ordeal.
‘It happened around 7pm. I had just returned from the hospital and was in bed when I heard my son was kidnapped. I feared the worst, and my husband and uncle pursued the car. An hour later, I was informed the car was pelted with stones, and my son was pulled out through the window,’ she said.
The older boy remained in the car until the man dropped him off outside the police station.
‘My son didn’t talk much about what happened in the car, but he mentioned the car had child locks, preventing him from opening the doors or windows. If the man needed directions, he could have used his phone or the GPS in the car,’ the mother added.
Community member Beulah Hansen urged the boys’ mothers to report the incident to the police, but they did not.
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