Child abduction data shows Manly and Sutherland Shire have highest rates

EXCLUSIVE: Two of Sydney’s most famous and popular beachside suburbs are magnets for sick predators to prey on unsuspecting youngsters.

Melissa Nassif with children, Mia, 9 months, Milad, 2, and Polina, 3, at a playground near their home in Lurnea. Picture: Justin Lloyd

• Five disturbing child-snatch attempts in space of a week

SICK predators are targeting Sydney’s idyllic beachside suburbs to prey on unsuspecting youngsters.

Manly and the Sutherland Shire local government areas have the highest rates of child abductions per 100,000 of the population, according to figures from the NSW Bureau of Crime and Statistics.

NSW Police Sex Crimes Squad boss Detective Superintendent Linda Howlett told The Saturday Telegraph that child victims of abduction and kidnapping were often approached at outdoor locations.

Melissa Nassif says she tends to avoid Liverpool’a Macquarie St Mall — scene of a recent abduction attempt. Picture: Justin Lloyd

“The physical environments tend to be outdoors, places like playgrounds and parks,” she said.

“Sometimes when a child is walking home by themselves they hear or see a car slowing down next to them on the street, things like that.”

Sutherland experienced five recorded incidents where police investigated a legitimate abduction or attempt for the year to March 2017, while Manly had up to four incidents.

Canterbury, Sydney, Blacktown, Fairfield and Liverpool followed on the list of areas where incidents reported to police over the year-long period are most common.

A child abduction attempt was made in Wentworth Park, Glebe, in May.

Sydney witnessed a spate of abduction attempts during the May-June period of 2017.

The most recent attempt — not recorded in this data — occurred last Saturday when a man approached a 13-year-old boy and twice offered him money to do his grocery shopping at Manly Vale.

Despite a handful of high-profile case such as William Tyrrell, the number of child abduction cases in NSW remains low.

Supt Howlett said her team had seen a rise in reports across the city after the winter school holidays. She said the incidents mostly concerned children aged from eight to 13.

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“We always see a slight increase in school holidays because of the number of children out and about by themselves without adult supervision,” she said. “They tend to go to the park and the shops more.”

Supt Howlett’s comments come after a spate of attempted kidnappings across Sydney this year with children approached in Darling Harbour, Glebe, Leichhardt, Summer Hill and Liverpool’s Macquarie St Mall in a six-week period.

“It’s scary. It’s so public, there are people everywhere.”

Leading parenting expert Dr Justin Coulson said predators were growing more sophisticated in how they approached children. “Tricky people are much more likely to try and show a child something cool in the garden, or something along those lines. Children are well-versed in not getting into the car with strangers.”

Lurnea mother-of-four Melissa Nassif avoids Liverpool’s Macquarie St Mall since a man attempted to abduct a toddler there in May.

“We sort of just steer clear of it now,” Ms Nassif, who has four children under four, said.

“It’s scary. It’s so public, there are people everywhere.”