Man charged with abducting teenage girl at Martinsville and detaining her at Cooranbong

A 69-year-old man is alleged to have forced an underage girl into the boot of his car and held her for a day at his home before she managed to flee the next day.

A man has been charged after allegedly forcing a teenage girl into the boot of his car at gunpoint before holding her at his Lake Macquarie home for a day before she was able to raise the alarm when the pair attended church.

Police say the 16-year-old was able to alert police after being taken to a Cooranbong church about 11am on Saturday – almost 20 hours after she was abducted from a small town about five kilometres away.

“Officers attached to Lake Macquarie Police District responded to a 16-year-old girl that had allegedly been threatened by a man, armed with a firearm, about 3.45pm on Friday 23 August 2024, in Martinsville,” police said in a statement.

The teenage girl was able to alert police when she attended church with her captor.

“The girl was then allegedly forced into the boot of a sedan, before she was taken to a house in Cooranbong, where she was detained overnight.”

Police said the girl was taken to the church about 11am on Saturday where “she was able to alert police”.

A 69-year-old man was arrested a short time later and taken to Toronto police station where he was charged with taking a person with intent to commit a serious indictable offence, possessing a loaded firearm in a public place, carry a firearm in a manner likely to injure a person or property, acquiring a pistol subject to a prohibition order and finding a firearm at a premises subject to a prohibition order.

The man faced Toronto Local Court on Monday where was refused bail to appear before Newcastle Local Court on October 23.