Chilling video shows masked man dragging away 12-year-old boy just minutes after kidnapping brother
MOORA, AUSTRALIA: A horrifying video showed masked man dragging a 12-year-old from his home mere minutes after his sibling was kidnapped. The surveillance video was captured at a home in Padbury Street at Moora, in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, at around 4 am on Friday, March 31.
The video showed the man, who was also wearing a wig, entering the house through a gate, stepping inside and coming out with 12-year-old Fabiano. The man, identified as 34-year-old Jonathon Richard Anthony, was seen trying to carry off the boy, per the Daily Mail.
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'(Fabiano) was scared and shaking'
Fabiano struggled and pushed the man away and ran back inside the home to tell Brayden Pitkethly, a family friend who resides on the property, what had happened. Pitkethly told WSPT Post, "(Fabiano) was scared and shaking." James, Fabiano's brother, who is eight, was reported to have been abducted minutes earlier, and the two suddenly realised he was missing.
Pitkethly said, "I ran out the front and down the street (but) I couldn't see anyone, So I jumped in the car and searched around town until police got to the house." Authorities joined the frantic hunt for the missing eight-year-old youngster. Pitkethly and Fabiano heard James screaming in a nearby home, "I'm over here," after he had been missing for about three hours.
12-year-old lauded for his bravery
Cops detained Anthony after locating the boy in a nearby house. According to WA Police Inspector Kareene Santoro, Fabiano's actions helped in preventing a very distressing incident. Santoro praised the boy for his extraordinary bravery and heroism and said, "(His) courage and bravery to get himself out of that situation was tremendous, and going and alerting an adult straight away of what had occurred was a really good job by him." Both children were sent to a hospital for a standard checkup.
The boys' father Steven Uzice, who was two-hours away in Perth working, told 7News, "I went straight to the police station ... and said, 'Daddy's here, nobody can hurt you now.' I look at my son and how he fought the guy. I'm very proud ... for what he did."
Anthony was detained by WA Police and accused of two counts of holding a child under the age of 16, two counts of aggravated burglary, deprivation of liberty, using a false identity to commit a crime and criminal damage. On Saturday, May 1, Anthony appeared in Northbridge Magistrates Court. He will be held in jail until the next hearing in May.