A grandmother is responsible for reuniting an abducted toddler with his family this week, after recognising the tot’s face from an urgent Facebook appeal.
Elisaia Kiff, 18 months old, was taken from his bed in the early hours of Tuesday morning from his home in the town of Rotorua, New Zealand.
The child’s mother raised the alarm, after discovering that the tot’s bedroom window had been jimmied open. She immediately notified her father, Bryan Rakei, whose house they were staying in, and the police were contacted.
Shortly after, Rakei sent around a photo of the child along with a plea for his safe return, on Facebook.
As it turned out, the child had been snatched by a 17-year-old young man, who fled to his aunt’s house with the tot.
Thankfully, the teen’s grandmother had seen the Facebook alert about the missing child, and put two and two together when a toddler just turned up at her daughter’s house.
In an interview with the New Zealand Herald, the grandmother recalled: “My daughter comes in and says, ‘Mum, there’s a baby here’. And I said to her, ‘A what?’ And I was like, ‘Oh my God, that’s the baby on Facebook.’”
“I saw my grandson holding the baby. He’s a grandson I don’t have a lot to do with,” she added.
After giving the baby a ‘wipe-down’, the grandmother immediately contacted the police. The child was then reunited with his family, around six hours after his disappearance, safe and uninjured.
#BREAKING Rotorua toddler kidnapping: 17-year-old arrested - https://t.co/J0L19UtFjC
— nzherald (@nzherald) December 13, 2016
The child’s father, James, also spoke to the Herald, sharing his relief and revealing that he gave the tot ‘a big hug’ when he was returned.
“He just seemed like the same old; happy to see Mum and Dad. He was a happy-as little chap,” he said.
The 17-year-old suspect has since been arrested and is set to appear in court later today.
