The distraught father of a young boy has spoken of the moment he learned his son had allegedly been kidnapped by a group of armed strangers.
The boy, 10, was allegedly taken by two men armed with machetes and a woman in a jeep at Adventure Park, in Woodridge, south of Brisbane, on Friday afternoon.
“(It’s) terrifying to come home from work and get a phone call that your child has been kidnapped,” the boy’s father told 7News.
The group reportedly drove the boy for half an hour before his parents found them and managed to free him following a heated argument.
The trio allegedly took the boy away after he threw a rock at their car.
The boy’s parents claim their son was mistaken for another child who was actually responsible for the act.
“My son now has to live with the rest of his life: he was put in a car, he was kidnapped,” the boy’s mother said.
“Another young man threw the stone and ran away and when the group returned they took my son away because they looked alike,” the father said.
The boy’s mother said her son wasn’t even at the skate park when the incident happened.
She revealed how the ordeal left the family shaking.
“It’s traumatic. My son now has to live with the rest of his life: he was put in a car, he was kidnapped,” she told 9News.
“He wasn’t there, he was at a friend’s house around the corner. They had gone to the skate park after it happened.
The boy’s shocked parents said they jumped in their car and followed the suspected kidnapper’s car.
The occupants of the Jeep jumped when confronted by the parents.
The boy’s father ran towards the Jeep and confronted the suspected kidnappers in dramatic scenes.
The occupants of the Jeep allegedly brandished machetes and fought with the parents of the 10-year-old child.
The mother was heard screaming: “Someone help, help.” They stole my child.
The boy’s father was said to have lost consciousness while his mother’s leg was crushed during the five-minute altercation.
The mother said she was relieved once their child was recovered.
“It wasn’t until we got in the car and drove home that it really registered that we had him back,” she said.
“Yeah, I just hugged him and that just made me know he was okay.”
The suspected kidnappers were arrested nearby shortly afterwards.
Tauvela Soe, 27, of Woodridge, was charged with kidnapping and assault resulting in bodily harm.
He will return to court on June 10.
Another Woodridge man, 22, and a Kingston woman, 29, were charged with kidnapping and assault causing bodily harm.
Both men will appear before Beenleigh Magistrates’ Court on May 16.
dailymail us
