MBOMBELA – An eight year-old boy who wants to become a soldier when he grows up, showed he has the bravery for a life in the military when he escaped after being locked up by a robber on Monday. Franklin Eze was kidnapped and held hostage during the ordeal.
Franklin and his parents, Mr Frank and Ms Veronica Eze, spoke to Lowvelder on Wednesday. They were at work when it happened. Franklin had decided not to wait for his two older sisters after school and instead walked home alone. He wanted to start and finish his homework.
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“When I got to the gate I saw this tall man following me. He grabbed me. He had a knife. He forced me to open the gate. He shouted at me and asked me if anyone was home.” Franklin was visibly emotional as he recalled the ordeal and tears welled up in his eyes. The intruder took him to his own room and ordered him to get into the cupboard. “It was dark and I couldn’t see anything. I heard him going through our house and making a noise. I was very scared,” Franklin said.
Later, when it became quiet, he climbed out of the cupboard and realised his attacker had taken the keys to the house and locked him inside. “I knew I had to get help so I took a kitchen knife and broke a window with the handle so I could go to my sisters for help,” he said.
Franklin managed to climb through the broken window, avoiding skin contact with the jagged edges, to get out of the house. He escaped unharmed. He didn’t have the gate keys anymore so he climbed over the wall. There was a security vehicle parked in his street.
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“I ran to the man for help and he came rushing to my house. He could not get over the wall so he broke down a part of the wall to get in so he could find the bad man,” Franklin said. Hi-Tech Security Nelspruit operations manager, Mr Callum MacPherson, said Mr Duncan Mdluli was patrolling the street at the time.
“The suspect had stolen cellphones and a laptop. We secured the scene and contacted his parents while we looked after the boy until they arrived,” he said. MacPherson said the police were also immediately notified and reaction units were dispatched to hunt for the suspect.
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“Because the suspect had kept the child in the house for a long time, he managed to evade capture,” he added. Frank said he was shocked when he received the news about what had happened to his son. He and his wife rushed home
“I cried. He is my only son. At the same time I am so proud of him. He is a very intelligent boy,” Frank said. Police spokesman, Capt Dawie Pretorius, confirmed that housebreaking and other criminal cases are being investigated. Franklin said if any other children ever got into the same situation, his advice would be, “Get away as fast as you can”.
