Residents of a working class township east of Johannsburg are threatening to take the law into their own hands to avenge the death of a four year old dragged by a hijacked vehicle.
Shocked by this killing, South Africans have learned that another five year old kidnapped outside Pretoria last week has been reunited with his parents – apparently unharmed.
Police commissioner of Gauteng – South Africa’s most populous province – Lesetja Mothiba’s appealing with residents of Reiger Park to let the law enforcement authorities do their job.
Debra Boards, the aunt of Taegrin Morris, says the hijackers who dragged the four-year-old trapped by his seatbelt after stealing the family car, must be made to suffer like her nephew.
Taegrin’s mother Chantal has identified one of the hijackers as a beggar who she regularly supplied with food and clothing.
She’s told police he was one of three men who approached them at gunpoint on Saturday and ordered her, her husband and her daughter to exit the car.
They drove off before they could free Taegrin.
Police say they’ve questioned a man but no arrests have been made.
They’re offering a fourteen thousand euro reward for information on the hijacking.
They’re offering half of that for information on the abduction outside Pretoria last week of five year old Mongezi Phike who was released after being held for four days.