A GLENWOOD mother urges parents to be extra vigilant with young children in public places after a near-abduction on the Durban promenade on Saturday, 14 February.
According to Michelle Schwartzel, she was taking her four-year-old son, Joshua, to ride his bicycle on the beachfront promenade – something she often does -when the ‘sickening’ incident occurred.
The shaken single mother said Joshua loves riding his bicycle at the beachfront, so she decided to take him for a ride on Saturday afternoon.
The pair were on the promenade near uShaka Beach, heading towards the Addington Beach parking lot, when she noticed a man hold onto Joshua’s bike.
“I walk while he paddles a few steps ahead, and every few steps I would adjust the training wheels, which often got stuck, for him to paddle again.
“I noticed this guy come alongside him, and I thought he was helping Josh adjust the wheels, but then he continued to push him and was taking Josh further away,” she said.
Starting to get nervous Michelle said she started walking faster and then began to run when the man did not look back or stop when she shouted for him to stop few times.
“I realised they were getting too far away from me and felt sick because he didn’t look back at all. My motherly instinct took over and I started running at top speed and could not catch him, and he was near the parking lot, so I screamed and people started taking notice.
“Only at this point did the man stop and leave Josh – he ducked into a group of people handing out food parcels and sat amongst those eating,” said Michelle.
Relieved, Michelle scooped up her son and tried to look for a policeman but only managed to find a security guard from a beachfront store.
“I explained what had happened and pointed out the man, and the security guard spoke to him, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying because they both spoke in Zulu. Afterwards the security told me the man said he was playing and didn’t hear me.”
Too traumatised after the incident, she went back to her car in tears ready to get son home, and got ill in the parking lot before leaving. “Josh was just saying, ‘Don’t cry, Mommy’,” she said.
In hindsight, Michelle regrets not taking a picture of the man or demanding identification, but she felt sick and just wanted to get to safety.
“It really was the worst experience ever. I was there on my own in a very public place with so many people around me in broad daylight, yet this man came straight to my child and did not turn around. as if he had a purpose.
“It was not a joke, at first I thought it was playful but later I had a bad feeling. especially because it was such a long distance and I couldn’t catch him. The only reason he stopped was because I was screaming at the top of my lungs and drawing attention,” she said.
The man is in his mid-twenties and was wearing a turquoise shirt and jeans.
What worried Michelle was, despite running flat out to catch up with the man, the Addington beach parking lot had many taxis going past and had the man bundled Joshua in one of them she would have had no clue where to find him.
“He used the busy promenade in his favour, and I want people to be very careful because I was right there watching yet the man had the audacity to get away with my boy. Josh is so young and innocent, he was thinking he was getting a ride so didn’t even realise, its so terrifying,” she said.
