Child disappearances and attempted kidnappings have plunged the capital into fear and anger, as illustrated by events on Saturday in Ilanivato. The Ilanivato police station in the fourth district experienced a turbulent day Saturday. On two separate occasions, at noon and early evening, an angry and hostile crowd gathered outside the station. These tensions arose from two distinct attempted child abductions.
At midday, a woman in her twenties, identified as a sex worker residing in Isotry IVO, was apprehended by the fokonolona in Tranodimy, a neighborhood adjacent to Ilanivato. Police already know her for stealing earrings from children.
Hasina Rasamiarisoa recounts: "My son, from the terrace, saw his two sisters at the gate with this young woman. He thought she might be a friend. I went out and met my daughters with her. They are 5 and 11 years old. At first, they said nothing, but their eyes were wide open and they were terrified. They were crying as the woman took them away. They eventually admitted she had forced them to follow her."
The suspect had given 200 ariary to the older girl. "She sent her to buy tamarind and kept the younger one. Before I could even question her, she defended herself by saying she wasn't a child thief. Then she fled. The neighbors caught her and brought her to the station. We came to file a complaint and ensure she would be imprisoned," the mother continues. Her sister, Ony Elisette Mahefarisoa, urges parents to be vigilant about what she considers proven facts.
Beaten
Outside the station, the street quickly filled with a crowd demanding the suspect's death. The fokontany chief, Claude Alphonse, and police officers attempted to calm spirits. But when the unmarked car evacuated the woman, accompanied by the children, their mother and aunt, to the central station in Tsaralalàna, stones were thrown. The situation was eventually controlled, before another, more violent incident erupted in the evening.
This time, it was the 6-year-old niece of Herisoa Jean Razafindratinaniaina, residing in Ampefiloha Ambodirano, who nearly became a victim of abduction by a heavyset man known as a criminal in Anosizato. "The little girl lives with my wife and me. She was sick, so I told her to stay home. I had locked the door, but the man, armed with a knife, broke it down. He didn't steal anything. He was carrying my niece in his arms when a merchant noticed him. The child was crying. Alerted, I arrived as the fokonolona was chasing him. He eventually abandoned the girl," Herisoa Jean describes.
The suspect attempted to take refuge at the Ilanivato police station, but the crowd beat him before he reached the door. He was dying. Overwhelmed, police could not prevent residents from tearing off the metal gate of the station.
A taxi-be requisitioned by authorities transported the injured man to the hospital under police escort. The fokontany chief explains that residents' anger is fueled by the recent abduction and murder of little Sahala Fanekena, who also lived in Ampefiloha Ambodirano.
Haja Léo