By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
A MAN who tried to take a six-year-old boy in a harrowing abduction attempt in Narre Warren on the weekend also had a young girl with him, according to police.
The girl, who left the area with the offender, is between four and five years of age and believed to be known to the man.
At roughly 5pm on Saturday the man took a young boy, Jordan, from a playground in Sweeney Reserve and dragged him more than 70 metres towards Melzak Way, before letting him go and fleeing on foot when a woman approached him.
Close to 50 people were at the reserve for a friendly softball game at the time, including Jordan’s father.
Jordan’s parents Mark and Lauren Cary thanked another six-year-old who alerted adults to his friend’s disappearance.
“I think without him going to speak to get some help, the situation wouldn’t have ended the way it did and there’s a high chance that it would have been much worse,” Lauren said.
“For a six-year-old boy to go and get some help like that, we think that’s incredible.”
Mark, visibly shaken when he spoke to media on Sunday, said he had spent Saturday night sleeping next to Jordan on the couch.
“I saw him running out of the canteen when he went to tell the canteen staff. I was standing within a metre of that, no-one really knew what was going on,” Mark said.
Jordan’s parents voiced concern for the young girl seen with the attempted abductor, who is still at large.
“It might not have been his daughter, it might have been someone else we knew,” Mark said.
“(Her parents) could be playing a (softball) game, standing where I was, just a few metres away.”
Detective Senior Constable Prue Ward, from the Greater Dandenong Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Team (SOCIT), also commended the young boy who alerted others and helped prevent the abduction.
“He’s done an excellent job in the circumstances. It was quite distressing to some of the children in the park at the time and for him to show that courage and come forward and speak to an adult,” she said.
“I think a number of times he had to express that it was actually happening and it wasn’t a joke and parents could come out and attend to it straight away.
“It certainly stopped an incident, it could have been a lot worse and we congratulate him for that behaviour.”
Police have released a FACE image of the man involved in the attempted abduction, who is believed to be of Indian appearance, about 177cm tall, wearing a black shirt, black shorts and glasses.
The young girl with the man wore a pink top and a skirt and had black hair in a ponytail.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or www.crimestoppers.com.au
