8-Year-Old Belmopan Student Almost Kidnapped
There is a report of the alleged kidnapping of an eight-year-old student on Monday. It happened in Belmopan while the boy was heading home from school along with his older brother and sister. The children told their mother that they were approached by a man in a white van offering them a ride home. The children refused prompting the abductor to become physical. He attempted to force the young student into the van. Fortunately, the boy and his siblings fought the man who abandoned his objective and fled the scene. The children have been left traumatized in the wake of a frightening ordeal. Today, police told the press that an intensive investigation has been launched into the matter. News Five’s Hipolito Novelo reports.
Hipolito Novelo, Reporting
While walking home from school on Monday, a man attempted to abduct an eight-year old boy. The student from the United Evergreen Primary School was on the George Price Avenue on his way home with his twelve-year-old sister and fourteen-year-old brother when a white van pulled up next to them. The persons inside that van repeatedly asked the students if they needed a ride home. When the students refused repeatedly, the perpetrator described as a ‘Caucasian’ man who was wearing a blue shirt’ forcibly attempted to kidnap the boy. He and his siblings fought the kidnapers until they sped off.
Reporter
“So the man grabbed you?”
Voice of Attempted Kidnapping Victim
“Yes.”
Reporter
“What part did he grab you?”
Voice of Attempted Kidnapping Victim
“My arm.”
Reporter
“What did he do when he grabbed you?”
Voice of Attempted Kidnapping Victim
“He tried to pull me in the van.”
Reporter
“What did you do?”
Voice of Attempted Kidnapping Victim
“I fight.”
Reporter
“How did you fight?”
Voice of Attempted Kidnapping Victim
“I used my other arm to hit him. After we fought him, he got in his car and left.”
Reporter
“And then you ran home?”
Voice of Attempted Kidnapping Victim
“Yes.”
The siblings hurried home to their mother Sheryn Mohadi who was overwhelmed with emotions after hearing her children’s terrifying ordeal.
Sheryn Mohadi
Sheryn Mohadi, Mother
“Just complete, turmoil, scared, emotion and happy enough at the same time that they were brave enough to fight. They told me that they were walking home when a man kept asking them if they needed a ride. They refused. They kept walking. Someone chased them off in a black pickup truck with tinted windows. After the gentlemen was gone, the other man in the white van with paint splotches on it came around, jumped out and grabbed the youngest child. The fought him and he jumped back in his van and left.”
Earlier in the month, a similar incident was reported when a man in a white man attempted to kidnap an eight-year old student of Patchakan Village in Corozal. Also in September, a fifteen year old girl was abducted in Belize City by a man in a white car. She managed to get away. The Police Department has launched an intensive investigation to catch the perpetrators.
Joseph Myvett
ACP Joseph Myvett, Head, National Crimes Investigation Branch
“It is a matter that we are taking serious and we have launched an investigation into the matter. According to them it was a white van which had some circles in different colors painted on the sides of the van. So we are on the process seeking to see whether or not we can locate that vehicle.”
Reporter
“Have you reviewed any surveillance cameras from any establishments of the area?”
ACP Joseph Myvett
“That is more or less an isolated area but we are on the ground since yesterday trying to establish what actually transpired or what lead we can obtain with regards to that information.”
Reporting for News Five, I am Hipolito Novelo.
