TODDLER FOUND DEAD IN MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
13-month-old Sanaya ‘snatched’, found in creek
A CHILD’S BODY FOUND IN A CREEK IN MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, IS BELIEVED TO BE THAT OF A TODDLER WHO DISAPPEARED IN MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES ON SATURDAY.
The toddler ‘snatched’ from the mother in Melbourne Park was later found dead in a creek. The family is of Fijian background, 7 News in Australia reported.
Full report on> P12
Achild’s body found in a creek in Melbourne, Australia, is believed to be that of a toddler who disappeared in mysterious circumstances on Saturday. The toddler ‘snatched’ from the mother in Melbourne Park was later found dead in a creek.
The family is of Fijian background, 7 News in Australia reported. The child’s body was found around 2.45am yesterday in Darebin Creek in Melbourne’s northeast but has not been formally identified, Victoria Police said in a statement. Police had been searching for 13-month-old toddler Sanaya Shaib who disappeared in “suspicious” circumstances from Olympic Park in Heidelberg West about 10am on Saturday. The girl’s mother Sofina Nikat reportedly told Police that a man pushed her to the ground, before abducting her daughter. The mother ran home sobbing and hysterical and told residents she had been walking with her daughter in the park when a man snatched her and fled. The mother’s cousin, Habbib Ali told 7 News she was screaming and crying: “Somebody took my child, somebody took my child.” The family is of Fijian background and were locals in the area. Search teams worked through most of the night trying to find the child.
“Investigators are keeping an open mind to various scenarios, but we are treating the case as suspicious,” a police spokeswoman said on Saturday night. The mother described the man who took her daughter as being of Somalian appearance and aged in his mid 30s. A command post has been set up at the park as State Emergency Service volunteers search the area.