Cases of child abduction are traumatic for all who may be involved and can affect the children at the centre of such an ordeal long after the issue has been resolved. With more incidents of children disappearing becoming increasingly common across the country, parents hold genuine concerns for their children. Officials warn parents to really keep an eye out for their children, whether it be near their family home or simply out shopping. Tragic incidents of child abductions can happen within the blink of eye, in seconds. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that the number of kidnapping/abduction victims was largest for persons aged between 10 and 14 years old, females accounted for a slightly larger proportion of all kidnapping/abduction victims (57% of 315 victims) and the most common location are private dwellings (39% of 214 victims). On Wednesday, a 41-year-old man attempted to abduct a 2-year-old child from a playground in Penrith Shopping Complex on High Street, a parent’s worst nightmare!
THE ABDUCTION
It is reported that the man accused of trying to abduct a toddler from a western Sydney shopping centre in broad daylight has been refused bail by a Sydney Court. He has been charged over the alleged attempted kidnapping of a child at Penrith on Wednesday 19 July 2017, just after 2.30pm. He entered the playground of a shopping complex and allegedly attempted to walk out with a two-year-old girl; however, was stopped by her parents. The man, who was not known to the girl, left the shopping centre and police were alerted. The two-year-old girl’s parents intervened. Officers from Penrith Local Area Command attended and spoke with the parents and witnesses before viewing CCTV. Following inquiries, officers attended a Penrith home about 8.30pm that night and arrested the 41-year-old man. He was taken to Penrith Police Station where he was charged with take/detain child away with intent to remove from parental control.
The two-year-old girl’s parents intervened after the man allegedly tried to take their daughter from a playground inside Penrith’s Westfield shopping centre about 2.30pm on Wednesday, the NSW Police Force said in a statement.
WHAT IS CHILD ABDUCTION
Child abduction is the unauthorised removal or detention of a minor from a parent or anyone with legal responsibility for the child. It can be committed by parents or other family members; by people known but not related to the victim, such as neighbours, friends and acquaintances; and by strangers.
CHILD ABDUCTION – THE LAW
Section 87 of the Crimes Act 1900 (The Act) deals with the offence of Child Abduction and states that:
“A person who takes or detains a child with the intention of removing or keeping the child from the lawful control of any person having parental responsibility for the child, without the consent of that person, is liable to imprisonment for 10 years.”
Section 91FA of the Act defines Child as:
“A person who is under the age of 16 years.”
THE THREE MOST MYSTERIOUS MISSING CHILDRENS CASES
-
William Tyrell
William Tyrrell is an Australian boy who disappeared aged 3 from his foster grandmother’s house near Kendall, New South Wales on 12 September 2014. Believed to be abducted, police offered a 1-million-dollar reward for information leading to the recovery of William alive.
-
Quanne Diec
Quanne was last seen by her dad at 7am on the 27th of July 1998. She was 12 years old and had just left her home in Granville, NSW to go to school. In order to get there, she needed to catch a train from Clyde to Strathfield. She never arrived. Unfortunately, her disappearance was not reported until 10 hours after she went missing as the school assumed, she was sick, and her parents assumed she was at school. One month after she vanished, the Government of New South Wales posted a $100,000 reward for anyone who could provide information that would lead to the discovery of Quanne. A year later, that was increased to $200,000. There has been no sign of her since.
-
Eloise Worledge
The case of Eloise Worledge really is a parent’s worst nightmare. Last seen on the night of January 12, 1976 in Beaumaris, VIC, it appears that Eloise was abducted. Her brother raised the alarm in the early hours of January 13th, and later told police he’d heard robbers kidnap her but had been too scared to speak up. The police enquiry ultimately ruled that Eloise had been lured from her bed by someone she knew and walked out the front door. Despite the biggest missing person’s search in Victorian history to that point, no sign of her was ever found.
To read more about Kidnapping- Take/Detain person for advantage, click on this link.