Durban - ADURBAN policeman on Thursday told of the harrowing ordeal he and his family went through when his 14-year-old son was kidnapped during a school cricket practice.
The Kloof High School teenager, who claimed the kidnapper also threatened to shoot him, was allegedly snatched on Tuesday after the ball flew on to a property adjoining the school.
When he went to retrieve it, it is claimed he was forced into a Toyota Fortuner vehicle by the property owner and driven around for an hour before being dropped off in Hillcrest.
The Wyebank policeman, whose name is being withheld to protect the identity of his son, is a warrant officer in the SAPS, in which he has served for 19 years.
He told the Daily News that when the ball went over the fence, the coach and his son tried to get the attention of the homeowner.
“My son walked on to the property and fetched the ball. The coach was watching. The homeowner rushed out and began arguing with my son and the coach,” he said.
The owner allegedly told the boy to exit the property through the front gate. While he was walking out, the man got into his car and demanded the boy get in.
“The coach was waiting at the front entrance fence when he saw the van speed off and there was no sign of my son. He alerted us and the police. In the car, the man asked my son to phone home. The man spoke to my mother and said he would drop her grandson off. He made my son speak as well.
“My son was shaken but managed to tell her he did not know the guy,” he said.
“During the journey, he threatened my son repeatedly, telling him he would take him to KwaDabeka to his friends and a quiet place.
“He also threatened to fetch his gun and shoot my son. He put the music on loud.”
The man drove from the school in Kloof to Hillcrest Hospital where he dropped him off.
“His last words to my son were, ‘I am going to play a game with you’,” the policeman added.
The boy called his mother, who took him to Pinetown police station. Police contacted the alleged kidnapper that evening and asked him to hand himself over at the station. He was arrested and charged with kidnapping.
The teenager has undergone trauma counselling.
“He was afraid to tell his kidnapper I was a policeman because he could have harmed him. My son is an enthusiastic cricket player. If the man had an issue with the ball going into his yard he should have taken it up with the school,” the father said.
“Panicking is not the word to describe how I felt. I was helpless.”
When contacted this morning, the school indicated it was aware of the incident but said it had been advised by the KZN Department of Education not to comment.
Department spokesman, Muzi Mahlambi, said on Friday he was not aware of the incident.
Police spokesman, Major Thulani Zwane, confirmed a 14-year-old had been playing cricket with his schoolmates when a man forced him into a vehicle and drove away. The man later dropped him off unharmed.
A 38-year-old suspect was arrested for kidnapping, Zwane said. The man was expected to appear in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court.
Daily News