Two children lured from day care and sexually assaulted

Police are on the hunt for a man who lured away two children from a Perth day care in broad daylight to sexually assault them on Tuesday.

A four-year-old girl and a five-year-old boy were captured on CCTV footage walking with a middle-aged man away from the holiday care program in North Perth they were attending in a community hall.

According to police, he took them to a nearby location and sexually assaulted them, then left them there in Hyde Park.

A passerby found them at the park at 12.15pm and alerted the police.

The workers at the holiday centre didn’t realise they’d gone missing.

The man is described as being in his late 40s to late 50s with pale skin and short greying hair. He was wearing an oversized black jacket, black trousers and a business shirt at the time of the crime.

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Police commander Kylie Whitely said it was “every parent’s worst nightmare”.

“He lured and enticed them out of the centre,” she said. “It’s a delicate situation … a very serious incident.”

It is unknown what the man said or used to entice the children to leave with him.

Police would like to speak to anyone who was in the vicinity of View Street and Fitzgerald Street near the North Perth shopping precinct and Hyde Park between 11am and 1pm and who saw a man with a young boy and girl.

Holiday program closed down

ABC reports, a member of the care program’s committee, who asked not to be identified by name, said the program had been shut down two days early.

The committee member said staff were “distraught, shattered and overwhelmed”.

An email sent to parents, seen by the ABC, said the committee for the program had met and decided to close down the program for the next two days.

“We will use this time to review all our security procedures and reinforce them within the staff,” the email said.

“We invite you to do the same at home with the children.”

Parents of children at the vacation-care program told the ABC yesterday the incident was deeply upsetting.

“You think it’s a very safe environment, and it just shatters your confidence in other people too,” one father said.

“You just don’t know who’s who. You just can’t trust anybody with your kids.

“It’s a shame because we need this centre because there’s a lot of working mums and dads around here.

“What do you do when this kind of thing happens?”

WA Premier Colin Barnett said it was “every parent’s worst nightmare”.

“I guess it just tells everyone in the community that you’ve just got to be constantly alert,” he said.

Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 FREE or make a report online here.

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19 Comments

- - ella12 said
  - 27 Apr 2016
    4:20 pm
He is a disgraceful human being. A sick man.

- - deb_gs said
  - 25 Apr 2016
    9:22 pm
What I would like to know is what the man said to the children to lure them away. We are so busy educating our children on feeling comfortable with anyone that Stranger Danger is not as prevalent as it used to be.

- - mom19782016 said
  - 22 Apr 2016
    2:20 pm
Atrocious. I hope they throw the book at him – this is a serious, unforgivable crime.

- - mom90758 said
  - 22 Apr 2016
    11:35 am
The man was caught yesterday. http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/man-lured-young-children-from-holiday-care-program-in-north-perth-and-sexually-assaulted-them/news-story/0f1df7fa8fa8f376d25dd34630fc491e
Poor kids!
- mom134803 replied
  
  24 Apr 2016 , 6:57 pm
  Great to hear the man was caught y’day !!
- - mom134803 said
  - 22 Apr 2016
    3:20 am
Horrific indeed ! Hope this man will be caught and sentenced. I wonder how in the world it’s possible to lure and pick up somebody else children from a daycare ?!! I know several facilities where you by the drop off of your child have to print a personal label for each child and the parents receives a pick-up sticker which they will need to show to proof this is their child and to take their child from the care center.

- - june11 said
  - 21 Apr 2016
    10:46 pm
In SA only authorised parents, guardians or people agreed to by them with authority forms signed are allowed to collect children. They have to sign in and out of the Day Care Facility, Kindergarten….also Out of School Hours Care linked to primary schools. In the first or first two years the teachers keep the child in the classroom or they are taken to the office to be collected by an authorised person. How did the children manage to leave or was the front desk temporarily unattended.

- - mom101628 said
  - 21 Apr 2016
    9:31 pm
Hope they catch this horrible person and throw the book at him.
I’m sure the childcare place will come under a lot of scrutiny.

- - cherz said
  - 21 Apr 2016
    8:50 pm
The story reads this was a holiday care program in a community hall, so do I assume not a registered child care centre.? Either way this is a tragic thing to happen and one that never should have occurred, all entrances and exits should have been secured and supervision at all times a top priority.
My heartfelt thoughts are with the family and especially these poor children.

- - Threelos said
  - 21 Apr 2016
    8:23 pm
This makes me sick to the stomach. Hope the kids are ok.
I feel like locking my kids inside the house with me and never letting them out where they might encounter harm
- mom182091 replied
  
  21 Apr 2016 , 11:27 pm
  Sadly statistically your kids are safer out on the street than they are in your home. Almost all violence against children is committed by someone they know. It’s just tragic to think that out of all the people you let in your home because you think you know them, probably one at least would harm your kids if given the opportunity. Sickening.
  So in cases like this, it does do well to bare in mind, that stranger danger is rare, and we still need to live our lives, and let our kids experience the world, or the bad guys win. They win by controlling us and our fear.
- - meedee said
  - 21 Apr 2016
    8:19 pm
I would love to know how it was possible for someone to leave with 2 children without being spotted. Surely there should be enough staff that children are not left alone. If everyone is inside then staff should no and be watchful of all exits. If some children are inside and some outside then at least 2 staff members should be outside with the children and children should be no where near gates or exits.

- - BellaB said
  - 21 Apr 2016
    5:41 pm
How awful. You do expect your children to be safe in supervised care.

- - taynik46 said
  - 21 Apr 2016
    4:13 pm
oh my those poor kids, their poor parents and the workers at the centre – what a horrible thing to have happen.

I wish the police all the best with the man hunt, surely someone knows who that is and will do the right thing and inform police.

To the families of the children my heart aches for what they must have gone through, I hope you get justice

- - Sam said
  - 21 Apr 2016
    3:21 pm
I worked in a child care centre years ago – if a child was in the toilet too long we checked – what the hell, this was not 1 child, it was 2. How the hell did they not notice these kids were missing!!!!! Those poor babies!!!!

- - mom160421 said
  - 21 Apr 2016
    2:06 pm
It’s distressing that the children went missing and no one noticed.

- - mom90758 said
  - 21 Apr 2016
    1:54 pm
Oh my!! Poor kids! I hope they will find this horrible man soon!
And how could the staff not realize that 2 kids were gone???