After what appeared to be an attempted kidnapping in Lavender Hill this week, community and children’s rights activist Lucinda Evans has called on residents to come forward with information and remain vigilant.

Evans, also the director of the anti-gender-based violence organisation Philisa Abafazi Bethu, raised the alarm about the incident when she was informed of the 11-year-old boy’s ordeal on Wednesday.

“The boy is too traumatised to remember each detail of the incident, but we want to find who did this to our child.

“We cannot accept this to happen to our children. I am taken aback by the brazenness of what has happened.

“The little boy is a learner at the Prince George Primary School and his family is also too traumatised to speak at the moment.

“We have assisted them and he was taken for medical attention where he has received a J88 form from the hospital.

“I received a message (on Wednesday) saying he had left from school and he crossed the M5 at Prince George Drive towards the BP garage, when a car stopped and the guys grabbed him inside of the car.

“What we can piece together is that he was halfway inside the car, because he was kicking and putting up a fight.

“Because this is what we also said to them, if anybody grabs you, you start fighting and throw yourself on the floor. They had then (later) tossed him out of the car,” said Evans.

Evans confirmed the boy suffered a number of abrasions on his knees, hip, elbow and stomach.

“He does remember that there was another car that gave chase. I post it, asking for people to come forward with any information in case they saw anything, but also to alert the community,” said Evans.

Police spokesperson, Joseph Swartbooi, said the incident has not been reported yet.

“Steenberg SAPS bears no reference that the matter cited in your enquiry has been registered with them for further investigation.

“The complainant is kindly requested to register the case at the nearest SAPS office.

SAPS officers are deployed in accordance with the crime analysis pattern, and address the crime accordingly,” said Swartbooi.

Evans said a case had not been registered with police yet as they were attending to the boy.

She would, however, assist the family with lodging a criminal complaint.

Ward councillor Marita Petersen said after being alerted to the incident, they have been making efforts to get surveillance footage from various locations and have been working with authorities.

“We are concerned by the incident as well and after being alerted we immediately got working on getting as much surveillance footage of what transpired and hope to collate that information as soon as we can.

“We are relieved that the boy is safe and unharmed but we urge our residents to be vigilant,” said Petersen.

Anyone with information on the incident can anonymously contact Crime Stop on 08600 10111 or SMS Crime Line on 32211.

Cape Times