A parent’s worst nightmare, along with the death of their child, is having their child abducted.

In a video widely shared on Friday, a woman was sitting with her daughter on the patio of a pizza shop in Florida, west Johannesburg, on Thursday, September 10, when a man jumped the bannister, ran towards the little girl, grabbed her by the neck, and pulled her towards him.

According to Gauteng police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Kay Makhubele, per IOL, the mother claims that “an unknown male came and grabbed the child by her neck as if he wanted to take her”.

It was widely reported that the man was trying to ‘snatch’ the young girl.

Here’s footage of the incident captured by CCTV:

The video below zooms in on the footage:

Within seconds of the attack, a security guard and other patrons intervened and rescued the victim.

Makhubele, again:

“The mother screamed and the child also screamed. With the help of the shop owner and the community the suspect was apprehended.

The 24-year-old man appeared in the Roodepoort Magistrate Court on Friday where he faces a charge of assault.

Asked why the man had not been charged with attempted kidnapping, Makhubele said: “At this point we charged him with assault because he grabbed the child, they fell on the ground and she was injured.

One eyewitness, who was on the scene when the attack occurred, told the Roodepoort Record that the man “was walking along the street banging on cars. Then he just started running up to the girl. It didn’t look like he was trying to take her, he was really trying to hurt her. His eyes were dead”.

The details of the case, including whether or not this was an attempted kidnapping, are still under investigation.

[source:iol]