A young girl walking home from school in Melbourne managed to escape being abducted by a Middle Eastern man in broad daylight.
The 11-year-old was on Landscape Drive in Doncaster East at about 2.40pm on Thursday March 28 when she was approached by the would-be kidnapper, who was behind the wheel of a grey Audi Q3 SUV, Victoria Police said.
According to police the man performed a U-turn and stopped a short distance from the girl before ordering her to get into his vehicle.
The girl fled the scene and hid in nearby bushes before seeking help from a Good Samaritan, while the man escaped south down Taurus Road.
Detective Senior Constable Brooke Miller said the girl was terrified: “She felt like she was going to be taken.
“A little girl should feel safe to walk home from school. It’s a really horrible thing he’s done.”
The girl’s family are “really upset and saddened” by the incident, police said.
The man is perceived to be Middle Eastern in appearance with tan skin, black hair, a black beard, and a moustache.
He was wearing sunglasses with brown lenses, and a grey t-shirt.
Detectives have released a computer-generated image of a man they believe may be able to assist with their inquiries. It is not clear why the image has a white box over the mouth.
According to the 2021 Census, Doncaster East is just 45.2% Australian-born, and 70.5% had both parents born overseas.
The abduction attempt comes after an Indian man allegedly stuck his mobile phone under a public shower cubible at a Melbourne beach and filmed a naked five-year-old girl.
