Ten-year-old Stephan Walcott is back home more than three days after he went missing from his Sophia residence and he has told his family that the fear of being spanked for his missing bicycle kept him away.
The child’s father Donald Walcott told Stabroek News this morning that his son appeared in his yard at around 6 am and he is in good health.
“I want to thank God that he is back home safe and sound because he is me last”.
Walcott had feared that his son, who left the home on Wednesday, had been kidnapped since a friend with whom he went riding reported that he was snatched by two men in the Tucville area.
According to the father, Stephan arrived home sometime Saturday night and did not enter the house but slept in a store room at the back. He said that he was not at home but his reputed wife was and when she left early this morning she was unaware that the child had returned. His father discovered him in the yard at around 6 am. A report on his disappearance had been carried on the Stabroek News website yesterday morning.
He said the child related that he was riding with his friend in Tucville when he was snatched off of his cycle by a man who then rode away. The child said he started to run behind the man and ended up in South Ruimveldt but the man escaped.
“He said he was afraid to come home without the bicycle because he frighten I beat so he decide to lay in wait for the man in an abandoned house in South Ruimveldt,” the father said.
The man said his son related that he spent the entire time in the abandoned house but did not see the man and eventually decided to return home. He walked home, the man said.
“You see he de frighten because before I lef, the bicycle was in front of the yard and I tell he take it at the back and stay home but instead he went riding so he frighten to come back without it,” the man said.
He said he is now focused on finding the man who stole his son’s bicycle and he would then hand the matter to the police.
The child went missing on Wednesday but it was not until Thursday morning when he spoke to the child’s friend that Walcott learnt that the boy left riding and that he was reportedly snatched. Walcott had criticized the response of the police to the missing child report he filed and said no officer went out looking for the child and it was left to him and other relatives.
