Second attempted child abduction within days rocks Melbourne as girl, 14, narrowly escapes

Police are on high alert for a white van after a second attempted child abduction in Melbourne in broad daylight within a fortnight.

A 14-year-old schoolgirl was forced to flee to a nearby park at around 5.45pm on Wednesday after a stranger pulled up next to her on Spring Street in Tullamarine, in the city’s west.

The man reportedly asked the girl where she lived before telling her to get into his white van.

She ran to a nearby park full of families and the man drove away.

It is understood the man drove west along Spring Street before making a U-turn and driving east on Broadmeadows Road.

Police were alerted after the girl told her mother about the terrifying ordeal when she returned home.

According to detectives, the girl was shaken after the attempted kidnapping.

“It’s very disturbing, an alarming incident, and I won’t go into the details of how she’s doing emotionally at this point, but understandably she’s a young woman, and this is quite frightening for her,” she said. Detective Grace Botterill. told The Herald Sun.

The teen’s ordeal follows a similar incident in which a man also driving a white van allegedly tried to kidnap an 11-year-old boy.

He was walking home from school along Halley Street in Blackburn in Melbourne’s east when he was approached by the man about 3.45pm on November 18.

The man told the boy that his mother had asked him to pick him up.

The boy refused to get into the van and fled.

Police do not believe the two incidents are related.

Detectives have released a computer-generated photo of a man officers want to speak to in connection with the girl’s attempted kidnapping on Wednesday.

He is described as Middle Eastern, 50 years old, and spoke with a thick accent.

Anyone with information, CCTV or dashcam footage or who witnessed an incident is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.