A MOTHER has told a court how a stranger tried to abduct her five-year-old son while they visited Hull Fair.
The woman was holding her little boy's hand when she said a man came up behind them and grabbed the child.
She told Hull Crown Court how she clung on to her son's hand and held on to his leg to stop the man taking him. The woman said: "I felt a tug, pulling him. I grabbed hold of my son's trouser leg. I thought 'You are not having him'.
"I just shouted hysterically."
Daniel Banasik, 28, is on trial at Hull Crown Court charged with attempted child abduction.
It is alleged he tried to abduct the boy at 8.10pm on October 12, last year at Hull Fair and was carrying a bag containing children's toys.
His lawyer later claimed Mr Banasik was not the man who had attempted to abduct the child and it was a case of mistaken identity.
The mum, who cannot be named to protect her child's identity, told the jury she had spotted a man looking at children before the attempted abduction.
She said her partner had left them for a moment to buy her son a bubble gun from a stall.
She told them: "I thought he was a bit scary, he was just looking at children. I held my son's hand even tighter.
"I just saw a man looking down at my son, he was too close to my son, then I just felt my son being lifted up from me."
The court heard the man put the child down and is alleged to have said "miserable" before walking off.
The jury was told the mum screamed for her partner and he followed the alleged abductor while on the phone to the police and a man was arrested. Mr Banasik was arrested at the junction of Anlaby Road, west Hull, by the police.
The woman told the court: "I didn't take my eyes off him. We followed him, my partner was on the phone to the police."
She told the jury she would never feel able to take her child to a fair or theme park again.
"There is no way I will be taking him to Hull Fair again," she said.
"He has asked to go to Flamingo Land but it is just out of the question. It has made us all insecure."
During cross-examination, Mr Banasik's barrister Craig Lowe suggested she was mistaken about who had tried to snatch her child.
He said: "I suggest somebody did pick up your son and tried to abduct him but not the person arrested by the police. You have just put two and two together."
But the woman said: "I cannot forget his facial expression. I will never forget his face. There are not many people who look like him."
The boy's stepfather told the court he heard his partner screaming.
He said: "I just heard screaming and my missus had the boy in her arms and was frantic. The boy was crying, she was crying.
"She told me what had happened and pointed to a tall guy and I followed him.
"I just wanted to grab him. I don't think he did realise I was following him.
"He kept looking at other children, he was walking between children. I felt as though he was trying to push the children away from their parents."
It is alleged the defendant was with another man and they met up with another couple before separating again.
Prosecutor Nigel Clive said: "He had a rucksack with him and when the police looked inside, there were three small children's figurines.
"He told the police he did not know what they were all talking about.
"He was arrested and interviewed and said he had never picked up a child.
"It was busy and he had simply moved the child to one side so he could walk by. The account is entirely false with that which other people saw and those people who chased him. We say he was trying to take the child away from his parent when he had no lawful reason whatsoever to do so."
Mr Banasik, of Pendrill Street, west Hull, denies the charge and the trial continues.
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