CENThis is the shocking moment two men try to drag a young female student into a car in a failed kidnap attempt.
The incident happened near Rembrandt Park, north of the city of Johannesburg, South Africa, when 21-year-old Charmaine Erick was just a short distance from home.
CCTV footage shows a car slow down, and two men inside appear to ask her to climb inside. When she refuses, one of the men gets out and chases after her as she runs off down the road – with the driver of the car putting it into reverse with the door open.
He manages to catch her but she fights him off, and eventually struggles free. By this time, the man is too nervous to carry on and runs back to the car. He then jumps inside and the vehicle speeds off as the young woman runs through the garden gate to the family home.
Watch it here:
Her sister Pamela told local media what had happened saying:
We are still in shock.
She said her sister had only escaped because ‘she began screaming and fought with him.’
She added:
She was crying and in shock. But she didn’t sustain any injuries.
Local police spokesman, Colonel Lindelani Ndlovu, confirmed they were treating it as an attempted kidnapping, and he asked anyone with information to get in touch.
The offence of kidnapping is defined at common law as ‘the taking or carrying away of one person by another, by force or fraud, without the consent of the person taken or carried away and without lawful excuse. It must involve an attack on or loss of that person’s liberty.’ A kidnapping offence can be recorded for both child and adult victims.
GettyEach year in the UK, police forces record more than 500 offences of child abduction, according to ChildAbduction.org. These include completed abductions and attempted abductions. Still, many more incidents go unreported to the police while some may not be recorded.
In 2014/15 police forces in England and Wales recorded 822 offences of child abduction in comparison to 565 offences noted the previous year; an overall increase of 45 per cent.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland recorded 43 offences of child abduction, compared to 40 in 2013/14. PACT’s research indicates ‘non-parental child abduction has been increasing at a faster rate than parental abductions.’
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