Body found in search for toddler missing from Olympic Park, Heidelberg West
UPDATE: POLICE are continuing a hunt for clues to unlock the mystery of the killing of a 15-month-old girl in Melbourne. Her mother said a drunk, barefoot man snatched her.
POLICE are continuing a hunt for clues to unlock the mystery of the disappearance and killing of 15-month-old Sanaya Shaib.
The little girl was found dead in Darebin Creek in Heidelberg West at 2.45am on Sunday.
Homicide detectives and forensic crews spent four hours searching the home of the murdered toddler last night.
Police remained at the Heidelberg West property, talking to family and checking discarded rubbish for any clues that may help in their investigations, up until just before 8pm.
Her mother, Sofina Nikat, 22, earlier told police that a shoeless stranger smelling of alcohol snatched her baby from her pram in Olympic Park, in Heidelberg West, just after 10am on Saturday.
Ms Nikat’s elder brother, Habib Ali, told the Herald Sun his niece was “an angel”. “She was a very cute, a very good little girl,” he said.
“Her mother is devastated,” Mr Ali said. “It’s very frightening.”
Police yesterday spent hours doorknocking neighbours of Mr Ali, with whom his sister had been staying. A number of homes in the area have CCTV cameras set up, and detectives were trying to get access to any footage that was recorded, which could hold vital clues.
In the early afternoon, Ms Nikat was helped into an unmarked police car in the company of homicide squad detectives and social workers.
Police stressed that Ms Nikat, who carried a small suitcase, was not being taken away for questioning but for “welfare reasons”.
Shortly afterwards, police and forensics officers arrived to start examining her brother’s property. Police said they were keeping all avenues of investigation open.
Detective Senior Sergeant Stuart Bailey earlier said the only suspect was the man that Ms Nikat said had pushed her from a park bench and snatched her daughter from the pram.
Police said they were hunting a man of African appearance. No other sightings of a kidnapper had been reported to police.
Police said earlier the only suspect in the toddler’s death is described to be a man of African appearance, between the ages of 20 and 30, six-feet-tall, wearing black pants, a black hooded zipper top, no shoes and smelling heavily of liquor.
Detective Senior Sergeant Stuart Bailey said parents in the area should be alert and mindful of what they do.
“This is obviously extremely concerning for Victoria Police if this is a random abduction,” he said.
“We think it’s completely random at this point in time.
“We need to be careful and alert, given what’s taken place at this present time.”
The warning comes after the body of a child, believed to be that of Sanaya, was found in a creek in Melbourne’s northeast at 2.45am on Sunday.
The body was found by a family of four, including a child, who were searching for the girl after seeing a Facebook post requesting help from volunteers.
The family, who had also lost a child in the past whom they later found alive and well, found the toddler partially submerged as they were walking along the western side of Darebin Creek. The child will be taken back to the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine for a post-mortem today.
Sanaya was abducted from her pram in Olympic Park yesterday. Senior Sergeant Bailey said the toddler’s mother, Sofina Nikat, noticed the suspect walking towards her around 10:10am.
“That male has then folded behind her and has then pushed her to the ground, taken the child from the pram and run in a south-westerly direction on the eastern side of Darebin Creek, and crossed over a footbridge that takes you to the Northland Shopping Centre area and then perhaps towards Wood St,” he said.
“Once the child has been abducted, she (the mother) has chased the offender for a short period of time, realised she wasn’t making any ground there, so she has returned back to her home with the stroller and notified authorities there.
“We notified both the mother and father at 6:45am this morning (that the body had been found) and they are obviously in an extremely distressed state.”
Police don’t know how long the body had been in the creek.
EARLIER
Crews armed with torches scoured Darebin Creek in Heidelberg West until late last night. Ms Nikat, 22, was assisting police, but they stressed she was not being held in custody.
Inspector Paul Tymms urged anyone who knew the location of the child to come forward. He said authorities were hopeful Sanaya was still alive.
Ms Nikat’s older brother, Habib Ali, said the family had been supporting the young mother after she recently separated from her partner. He said his sister had taken an unsettled Sanaya out for a walk but returned home soon after with dirt on her clothing.
Mr Ali said: “She came screaming and crying, she said, ‘Somebody’s snatched my baby’. She was mumbling out of control.
“I just pray to God that whoever’s done this, please return the baby.”
The mother’s family claimed her daughter had been snatched from her pram at a popular park in Melbourne’s northeast.
Inspector Paul Tymms confirmed on Saturday evening that the disappearance was being treated as suspicious.
Sanaya’s uncle Habib Ali told the Herald Sun his sister had been hysterical when she arrived home from a walk without the baby.
“I’m devastated,” Mr Aly said. “This is shocking ... why would anyone want to hurt this little girl?
“We just don’t know what to do.”
Sanaya and her mother were visiting Mr Aly’s Heidelberg West home for the day, he said.
He said his sister told family that as they sat down on a park bench she noticed a man watching her.
“She said someone was standing and watching her ... but she didn’t make anything of it,” Mr Aly said.
The man then undid the clips in the toddler’s pram, picked up the girl and ran away toward Northland shopping centre, Mr Ali said he’d been told.
Next-door neighbour Melynda Smith said the family were quiet and she had not heard any disturbances.
“We’re just terrified,” Ms Smith said.
“We are shaken up over the situation.
“You hear it in other states, you hear it in other countries ... you don’t expect it to happen in your own backyard.”
She said the family was close and had hosted Sanaya’s first birthday party at Mr Aly’s Perth St home.
“They support each other,” Ms Smith said.
“I always see the mother out walking with her, getting fresh air ... they are always spending time with the bub and the bub is never out of the mum’s sight.
“She is a very well cared for and looked after little girl.”
Mr Aly said he and his family had been supporting his sister through her separation from her partner, who lived in Hallam.
He said his sister and Sanaya had been staying in Mitcham but visited his home regularly.
The toddler was last seen wearing a short-sleeved white top with pink and yellow hearts, koala print pants, socks, and a black necklace with an oval locket.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential crime report at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au
Originally published as Body found in search for toddler missing from Olympic Park, Heidelberg West
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