2007 05: 5-year-old taken on terror ride

NST online. Local news. 27/05/07

Lau Meisan

JOHOR BARU: It was an hour of hell for a five-year-old boy in Taman Puteriwangsa here on Wednesday night.

First, he watched in horror as three men assaulted his father, then the men got into his father’s car and drove off with the boy in the back seat.

The boy’s father, Tay Chee Boon, 40, tried to run after the car but the robbers sped off with his son.For about 10 minutes, the robbers drove around town in Tay’s Nissan Sentra before finally dropping the boy off at an industrial area near Taman Desa Jaya.

The boy walked around the dark factory-lined streets and went into a coffee shop that was about to close.

The shop owner tried to help the distressed boy but could not get a word out of him as he was crying.

He then checked the boy’s bag and found the name of his tuition centre in Taman Gaya. The man drove the boy there, and from the tuition centre, the victim showed the shop owner the way to his home.

Tay, who was searching the city for his son, received a call from his mother-in-law at 11pm, telling him that the boy had been dropped off at home.

"I was so relieved that my son was sent home by a kind man and immediately rushed home with my wife," Tay said. He lodged a report at the Johor Jaya police station.

He said his ordeal began soon after he picked up his son from the tuition centre.

He was driving along Jalan Puteriwangsa when his car was hit from behind by a Proton Satria.

When Tay got down to inspect the damage, he was immediately assaulted by the three occupants of the car who then drove off in his car along with his son. "I was terrified and called out for help. I even tried to hail down passing cars but none stopped to assist me," he said.

Tay contacted his wife to pick him up before calling friends and relatives to look for his son.

"I went around the town to look for my car and prayed hard that the robbers did not harm my son," he said.

Johor police chief Datuk Hussin Ismail confirmed the incident, adding that police were investigating if this robbery was committed by the same group responsible for a similar incident 48 hours later.

Those with information on the case are urged to contact 07-5561222 or 07-2218999.