Laurence Dollimore
POLICE have confirmed they are investigating the ‘harassment’ of an eight-year-old boy following an incident at Glacis Estate in Gibraltar yesterday.
While they are not yet treating it as an attempted abduction, the boy was taken to hospital where he received stitches, claimed the mother in a Facebook post.
She claimed in the post, that has since been removed, that her son was followed by a light blue Kia Picanto with four men inside as he took their dog for a walk.
“One man got out of the car and followed my son and once out of sight tried to abduct him as he struggled to run home,” she recalled.
“The man grabbed my son by the arm and tried to take him, my son started to shout and in the struggle managed to free himself and started to run but fell and hit himself against the lower pillars at the bottom of the building.
“As the man came towards him to grab him again the car was waiting with the door open.”
She added that he arrived home ‘covered in blood’.
“He was screaming and he managed to get home thank God,” she said.
She appealed for anyone who may have seen the incident to contact the police.
She added that this was the second recent ‘attempted abduction’ in Gibraltar that she had heard of.
Police, however, have asked the mother to take the post down as it might intefere with the investigation.
A police spokesperson told the Olive Press: “We are aware that such an allegation has been made on social media but it is early stages at the moment, we are not at this time investigating it as an attempted abduction.”
They are appealing for witnesses who may have been in the area of Referendum House on Glacis Estate between 3 and 3.15pm yesterday.
A police statement released today said: “We can confirm that we are currently investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident yesterday afternoon, whereby an eight-year-old child felt distressed after being allegedly harassed by an unknown male who may have been under the influence of alcohol.
“The nature of possible previous contact between the said individual and the child is also the subject of enquiries.”
Anyone with information or who saw the incident or a blue car with Spanish registration plates and four occupants inside should call 00350 200 72500.
