A Hillcrest family cafe has set the record straight following allegations of an attempted kidnapping at their establishment at the weekend.
In a post on Facebook, a resident claimed that she was with her family at Bona Terra when a woman approached her two-year-old son and put her hands over the toddler’s eyes before picking him up and walking off. The poster claimed that she jumped up and grabbed her son.
“She resisted at first but then let go of him. I yelled at her and all she could say was sorry,” the woman said.
She added that she looked for the manager to call the police but she noticed the woman seated at a table with other patrons.
“I stopped and asked her what her motive was and she said sorry and started crying. One of the patrons at her table started screaming at me and and called for the waiters to remove me from the cafe,” the post read.
The woman claimed that staff refused to contact the police and were “pretending as if the incident did not occur.”
In response, Bona Terra issued an official statement claiming that the allegations were false.
“The person who placed their hand over the child’s eyes was a child minder who works for a celebrity and was part of a group that had been playing with the children for some time before this incident occurred.
“Our staff were aware of this and knew that the child minder was with the celebrity group,” management said.
They said it was after someone at the woman’s table saw the person who picked up the child, the misunderstanding was cleared.
“The other customers even apologised to the complainant three times for the misunderstanding,” Bona Terra management said.
They have given the mother until close of business on Wednesday to issue an apology.
IOL