Queensland grandfather saves 12-year-old girl from abduction
A grandfather has come to the rescue of his 12-year-old granddaughter after a man allegedly broke into the Gladstone home where she was having a sleepover and attempted to abduct her.
In what police say was a random attack, it is alleged a man broke into the house at 1am on Sunday where three 12-year-olds girls were sleeping.
She had been hosting a sleepover with friends at her grandparents' house in Gladstone when a man allegedly broke in and tried to take her away.
An officer stands by the scene of the attempted adbuction. Source: 7 News.
Police say the man laid down on the mattress and touched the girl before trying to drag her outside, but her screams woke her grandfather who came to her aid.
"Thankfully the screams of that young girl and her friends have alerted the grandfather of the victim to what was occurring and he has run outside where the offender has decamped," Detective Inspector Darrin Shadlow said.
What should have been a fun sleep over party turned to a terrifying nightmare. Source: 7 News.
Det Insp Shadlow said the girl was "very shaken up" by the incident and suffered cuts and bruises.
"The screams of the young girl and her friends have alerted the grandfather of the victim to what was occurring," Shadlow said.
Police tried to arrest a 24-year-old from north-west Queensland at a home at Seaview Heights on Sunday afternoon but he ran away, sparking a large-scale search of the area.
The address was "basically across the road" from the victims said Det Insp Shadlow.
Police went on a man hunt searching for the person who tried to kidnap a child. Source: 7 News.
The alleged offender was eventually found in the backyard of a nearby home around 8.15pm on Sunday night and taken into custody.
Police say the girl and her family were not known to the offender, but he had been living nearby.
The man is due to face Gladstone Magistrates Court on Monday charged with a number of charges including child abduction, assault and indecent treatment of a child.
