A frenzy has erupted over the alleged trapping of a nine-year-old boy in a local supermarket on the night of Sunday, December 30.
Reports of the storeowners trapping the boy in a cage after he attempted to shoplift have gone viral on social media and across a number of community pages, much of it centering on hearsay and rumours.
The Examiner can confirm a police investigation is being conducted into the incident and Armadale District Sergeant Jim McLaren also made the confirmation.
“There was an incident at IGA that is currently under investigation and subject to a considerable amount of speculation,” he said.
District Sergeant McLaren was unable to elaborate.
Facebook has seen hundreds of people comment on the story, some of which claim connections to either the victim’s family or the storeowners.
Kelmscott resident Sandra Woods who originally reported the incident on social media was unbridled in her criticism.
“This is a child who was dragged around, bashed against walls then locked in a cage at the back of IGA shops last night, he was stabbed in the head while IGA locked their front doors only for the family smashing the windows in the front of shop to get in this child,” she said.
“Would have been dead – took him hospital bleeding all over then had to wait after 20 other people got seen to first.
“I looked at his head where he was stabbed by some object, the poor baby will be traumatised for the rest of his life.”
People commenting online have also questioned the validity of the story and the reasoning for publishing the information in the first place before reporting it to police.
Liam James questioned why so much attention had been paid to the post online before news coverage had reported it.
“Now how does anyone know this is true?” he said.
“Nothing on the news, this is the only post about it, no details as to when or were it happened or why it happened.”
Multiple people, many with differing views, have contacted The Examiner regarding the story.
The owners of the IGA store were unable to comment due to the police investigation.
