The Civil Guard arrested this Sunday a tourist of foreign nationality, accused of the illegal detention of a four-year-old child in Puerto del Carmen. The child's mother ran after this suspect and managed to restrain him and take the child away, according to the complaint accessed by La Voz. The arrested man, S.R.M., has been brought to justice this Monday. The minor did not suffer any injuries.
The events occurred at around 6:15 p.m. on Sunday on Guatifay Street, in Puerto del Carmen. The mother had gone to her in-laws' house with the child. Around that time, the child was playing outside the house, specifically on the terrace. The rest of the people were inside the property, although the child's grandmother had visual contact and could see the child, according to the complaint filed by this family with the Civil Guard of Puerto del Carmen.
The grandmother saw how a person approached the minor and picked him up. At first, she thought it was a neighbor who had picked up the child believing that he had fallen on the terrace, so she didn't give it too much importance.
However, a neighbor child from the area approached this house and said that there was a man who was taking the four-year-old child away. The family ran out of the house and observed how a male "was carrying their son in his arms". "The minor was crying and trying to resist to break free from the male", according to what is stated in the complaint.
"He was trying to hide his face"
Faced with this situation, the child's mother ran after this man and demanded that he release her son, but he "ignored" this woman's request. "Given that the male carrying her son did not give up his attitude of taking him away, the complainant approached him and grabbed him, while repeating that he return her son. A struggle began to try to snatch the minor with a negative result, as the male responded by grabbing the minor more forcefully. The man showed evasive behavior, trying to hide his face", the complaint states.
Seeing these events, a neighbor approached and it was then that the man "ceased the force exerted on the minor" and the mother was thus able to take him out of his hands. The wife of this neighbor called the Civil Guard and the family managed to keep this person at the scene until the arrival of the agents, who arrested him shortly after. The minor told his family that the man told him that "if he didn't go with him, he was going to set a black dog on him".
In the complaint to the Civil Guard, the family stated that they did not know the detainee, a man "of medium height, of normal build and well dressed" with whom the neighbor communicated in English. The child's mother also stated before the agents that her husband's sister had seen this man a day before, at around 7:00 p.m., outside a house on the same street accompanied by two or three women.
