Melbourne manhunt for thief who stole a car with sleeping toddler inside on Nepean Highway, Chelsea
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Robber leaves with sleeping 2-year-old in back of car after dad pulled over and went into stores
- Search continues for thief who stole gray Volkswagen SUV with child inside
- The boy’s father left him in the car sleeping with the engine running while he went into the store
- Chelsea locals found an uninjured boy wandering a nearby busy street
- Police urgently call on parents not to leave their children alone in the car
- Do you know more? Email tips@dailymail.com
The desperate search continues for a suspected thief who stole a car and sped off while a toddler was fast asleep in the back seat.
A man endured every parent’s worst nightmare after briefly breaking into a supermarket on Nepean Highway in Melbourne’s south-east coastal suburb of Chelsea at 4pm on Sunday.
Deciding not to disturb her sleeping two-year-old son, she left him inside the gray Volkswagen SUV with air conditioning and the engine still running while she ran a quick errand.
Seconds after entering the store, a thief jumped into the car and sped off with the child still inside.
The uninjured boy was left and abandoned in a nearby Bath street and found wandering the busy street alone by startled passers-by.
A gray Volkswagen SUV was stolen with a sleeping toddler as a man walked into shops on Nepean Highway in Chelsea (pictured) on Sunday.
“It appears the thief soon stopped the car, released the young child onto the street and drove away in the stolen car,” Kingston police said.
Minutes later, a passerby found the boy wandering down a busy street. Miraculously, the boy was unharmed and the police soon returned him to the arms of his parents.
The robber was last seen driving erratically south on the Nepean Highway.
The stolen car is still missing as of Monday morning with the thief still at large.
The ordeal prompted a warning to parents.
“This situation serves as a timely reminder: never leave young children unattended in a car,” police added.
A lot can happen in the space of a minute or two.
Detectives are expected to provide more details at a news conference later Monday.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
The incident prompted an urgent warning to parents not to leave children unattended in a car (pictured is a file photo of a sleeping baby)
Child safety experts said it was very lucky that the toddler escaped unharmed.
“It’s not worth taking the risk of leaving your child unattended anywhere, particularly a younger child, they should be within reach,” said Kidsafe NSW chief executive Christine Erskine.
“It’s very scary to think that these incidents, as rare as they are, happen because a risk has been taken.”
In June last year, Adelaide’s mother, Erika Carter, left the engine running with her four-month-old son Jordan, asleep in the back seat as she went into a deli to buy a loaf of bread in Klemzig.
Seconds later, security cameras caught the distraught mother running into the parking lot as the suspected thief backed out and sped off the vehicle.
His car was found abandoned two hours later with Jordan still inside, crying but unharmed.
“I took a quick trip to buy a loaf of bread and made the wrong decision to leave the bubs for that split second,” she told 7.News.
‘While I was paying for my bread, I heard my car speed up and my heart sank.
“I ran after my baby and tried my best to get in front, but I couldn’t catch up with him, he was just yelling, ‘my baby, my baby Jordan’ and he was gone.”
I thought the worst.
The search continues for the thief who stole a gray Volkswagen SUV in Chelsea (file image)