Cops Need Your Help to Find This Public Menace: A Man Who Asked a Young Girl for Directions

Parents, keep your children close.

Dreamstime

Australia's New South Wales police put out a press release alerting the public to a frightening occurrence: a man asking a 12-year-old girl for directions.

How the poor child will ever recover from the trauma she endured, I just don't know:

Child approach – Mount Annan near Camden

Friday, 04 September 2015 10:56:36 AM

Police are appealing for witnesses after a girl was approached by a man at Mount Annan near Camden yesterday.

About 2:55pm yesterday (Thursday 3 September 2015) a 12-year-old girl was walking east along Main Street towards the intersection of Watermouth Drive on her way home from school.

As she walked further towards the intersection, a man allegedly approached the girl and asked for directions.

The girl then walked east along Welling Drive, when she looked behind and noticed the man was no longer following her.

She proceeded to walk south along Fitzpatrick Street when she was stopped by a woman who was concerned with the girl's welfare.

The girl informed her mother of the incident who then contacted police.

The man has been described to police as being 40 to 50-years-old, 180cm tall, pale complexion, Mediterranean appearance, balding hair and unshaven. He was wearing glasses, a black and green jumper, blue pants with white reflective stripes around the ankles and sandy coloured work boots.

Police would like to speak to anyone who witnessed the incident or has information that may assist to contact Crime Stoppers.

Investigations into this matter continue.

You don't want a serious crime like this to go unsolved. The cops have plenty of information to go on—the time, the day, the street—why is this fiend still at large? We demand answers!

Props to the bystander who did not remain silent, but bravely took it upon herself to alert the girl that she had been a victim of some kind of something or other. A very terrible something or other, indeed. How dare a man talk to anyone younger and female? I should hope "investigations continue" until the man is found, tried, and rotting in jail. He can ask all the directions he likes, once he is safely behind bars.

Until then, parents, keep your children close.

Comments

[Paul.]

Mediterranean appearance,

aaaaaHA!

[Lee G]

a black and green jumper

aaaaaaHA!

[R C Dean]

Two things I don't usually think of in the same package are "pale" and "Mediterranean".

[R C Dean]

The girl then walked east along Welling Drive, when she looked behind and noticed the man was no longer following her.

The horror.

Investigations into this matter continue.

Is it against the law to speak to minor females in Australia? If not, what are they investigating, exactly?

[R C Dean]

And are they investigating the "stop" by the woman was allegedly concerned with her welfare? If not, why not? Didn't she also speak with a minor female?

[sarcasmic]

Intentions, dude. Intentions.

[Drake]

This seems like the real crime - what gives this woman the right to "stop" children on the street?

[sarcasmic]

I'm quite sure that here in the states that would fall under some sort of harassment law. After all, the old guy made the girl feel uncomfortable. That's harassment of a minor. Not only that, but why would an old creep talk to a little girl unless he wanted to have sex with her? Isn't that the only reason why men speak to the opposite sex? The guy is a rapist! Child rapist on the loose! Sex trafficker! We need to name a new law after that poor little girl! Think of the children!

[OneOut]

It seems the woman is who made the girl feel uncomfortable.

She was fone giving th eman directions until the woman stopped her and made her uncomfortable.

[Sapient Mulch]

"Until then, parents, keep your children close."

Better yet, bring them to CPS for "protective relocation".

[Zeb]

Just for fun I will humorlessly answer all of your rhetorical questions today.

Because he wanted directions. No.

[Tionico]

but the text of the article does not SAY the man made the girl feel uncomfortable. I'll wager high stakes at long odds the chap was merely .... seeking directions... and, being born before the modern age of hysteria at everything moving and not under total control, never thought twice about asking the nearest passerby. It would be a reasonable assumption that a girl of that age, apparentl walking home from school, MIGHT be somewhat familiar with the area? If she were a decent sort, he figured, she'd be happy to assist him in finding his way again. My wager is that HE is the one miffed, \disturbed, uncomfortable. Walk up to an ordinary looking citizen on the street and ask directions, she walks off in a huff, declining to give him his requsted help let alone the time of day. HOW RUDE!!!! WHAT is the world coming to?

[Pope Jimbo]

Wait until they catch the guy. You know they are going to force him to make a public apology for wasting the police men's time.

"I'm sorry for my actions yesterday. I should have known better than to approach a girl in public. I realize now how disturbing my actions were to both the victim and the community at large. I promise to never do it again."

There is no way the police are going to admit that they freaked out and hassled an innocent guy for breaking no law that they know of. They are going to sweat the guy until he recants in public.

[R C Dean]

"I'm really sorry I asked for directions yesterday. Never again will approach a child in public, or allow a child to interact with me in public. Even if they are bleeding out in the gutter. I would advise all men to do the same. It is clear to me now that all men, including myself, are child rapists who may or may not be in control of our bestial urges, and we simply cannot be trusted, even on a public street in broad daylight, within arm's reach of a child.

I am also sorry that there is no law on the books that allows me to be imprisoned for what I did. Its a shameful commentary on our country that men are allowed to speak to children. I call on our government to immediately pass such a law."

[tarran]

I'm done....

My copy of the Book of Souls just came in the mail....

I'm losing my self for the next 90 minutes in a world where the insane don't run the asylum.

[Slammer]

Decent stuff for "new" Maiden. The 2nd disc is much better than tbe first, imo.

[Free Market Socialist $park?]

I've heard rumors from a friend that some new Maiden existed. Is it worth a listen?

[tarran]

OK. IT's a bit hit or miss (more hitty than missy), although I've noticed that with Maiden, I usually start out thinking "meh" and it takes me a few months before I really start enjoying a new album.

I think age is catching up with them, Bruce particularly. The songs are crafted to allow him to rest a bit here and there - understandable given that a couple of years ago surgeons were cutting tumors out of his throat!

The second CD is much stronger than the first. The first song is a bit WTF - I just don't think of Mexican music when I envision death.

The album is full of experiments like that. If you want a clone of Powerslave or A Matter of Life and Death, you will be disappointed. But, their musical genius shows through again and again, and I recommend getting the album if you are willing to take the misses for the hits.

Overall, I liked it. I'm diving back in for a second listen now.

[BearOdinson]

A decent effort, but Bruce's register has become a bit lower. And frankly I don't get Speed of Light. When I want to listen to Deep Purple, I would rather have Ian Gillan and Ritchie Blackmore.

[WoodchipperPatriarch]

12? Not 6, not 4, 12. Even if her parents are paranoid morons, she should've grown out of the reflexive "stranger danger" mentality by 12. Since she hasn't, I'm assuming there is a position as a college diversity coordinator in her future.

[Free Market Socialist $park?]

Imagine if that "man" had really been a drop bear in disguise.

[Swiss Servator]

She would have flung a handful of strange and highly venomous spiders at it?

[Free Market Socialist $park?]

Exactly! Maybe they want to make sure that he's the one who is OK.

[Cloudbuster]

I never send my kids out without drop bear repellent. It works great. None of my kids have ever been assaulted by a drop bear.

[Adam330]

Why aren't they investigating the parents for gross neglect? Who lets a 12-year old walk by herself? Do you know what could happen? People could talk to her!!!!

[Free Market Socialist $park?]

Why did they give his age in American units and his height in metric?

[Cloudbuster]

Seriously, they should have clarified that he's between 5.21843109e25 and 6.52303887e25 au.

[Fist of Etiquette]

With all that weird Aussie slang, while asking for directions the guy could have slipped in a euphemism for male genitalia. Who would have known? Talking about tossing his donger on the barbie and whatnot. The sicko.

[Cloudbuster]

That photo is begging for alt text. I feel robbed.

As for the article, maybe I should stop resisting the tide: any man who talks to a child or woman should be shoot-on-sight! Anything else would be victim-shaming/blaming!

[Swiss Servator]

"OMWC revealed"?

[Old Man With Candy]

I should only look so good.

[Pope Jimbo]

Isn't it OMWC's penchant for "revealing" himself that is always getting him in trouble? Why are you encouraging him?

[Old Man With Candy]

Not all pedophiles are exhibitionist. Do I need to draw you a Venn diagram?

[Pope Jimbo]

No siree! My momma told me to never get drawn into a Venn by an old man with candy

[AceDroman]

Well done.

[Don'tTreadOnMeChipper]

+1

[Free Market Socialist $park?]

Last night as I walked down the stair
I saw a man who wasn't there
He wasn't there again today
Oh how I wish he'd go away

[Hugh Akston]

The girl informed her mother of the incident who then contacted police.

The incident was so serious that it acquired its own agency.

[Ron]

they could start their search for the guy at the location he asked directions to.
Everybody is scared of their own shadow now.

[Episiarch]

At least they caught the woman who talked to the girl after the man. One less pervert off the streets, amirite?

[Hyperion]

Well, I'm sure he looked rapey, after all, he was a guy. There are only 2 kinds of males, rapey males who have raped and rapey males who are looking to rape. The Aussies should declare martial law here and put all rapey males into camps, for the children.

[Sapient Mulch]

Thank goodness they don't have to worry about him having a gun!

[Robert]

What are they going to do for the children in those camps?

[Matrix]

My male privilege includes automatically assuming I must be a pedophile if I interact with children that are not relatives.

[Don'tTreadOnMeChipper]

It's more likely that they're relatives according to the statistics. Along those lines, I was looking for lizards in the back woods with a 5 y.o. nephew when he dropped trou to pee. I sweating serious bullets hoping his parents didn't walk around the corner to witness. The world of today has just made us all paranoid as hell around children. I know I stay away from them as much as possible at the playground. Just don't want to tempt the local SJW to call the cops for helping a kid off the monkey bars. Fucking stupid.

[Limpee Wiltstock]

Your brother would assume that there was some evil going on on your part cause of this? I would think if anyone a sibling's judgment would be of some merit, since he probably knew all the crasy stuff you did growing up.

[HazelMeade]

He was unshaven! By God, that's a sure sign of a nogoodnik!

[Kristen Bids No Trump]

Unshaven and Mediterranean!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1Y73sPHKxw

[Pope Jimbo]

The fact that he didn't have a smart phone with GPS built in is also an indication of being a nogoodnik.

After all the only reason to not have a smart phone is if you are trying to avoid being tracked by the govt. And who other than someone with something to hide would want that?

[Spartacus]

And they said Mad Max was just a movie.

[Nikkodemus]

While I do not agree with the uproar of this so called "incident", I can see where the emotions stem from. When my sister was 12, a man came up to her and asked for directions. When she stopped to do so (being the good natured person she is), he forcibly removed her from her bicycle and raped her. Not to say there are justifications behind the overreaction to this particular incident, but as a parent now myself, I can see where the emotion comes from.

Having said this though, I realize that the chances of something bad happening when someone asks for directions is next to nothing. Issues like this arise when we think with our emotions instead of with our brains.

[R C Dean]

I can see where the emotion comes from.

The difference between civilized people and savages is that civilized people don't let their emotional reactions rule their lives.

[Nikkodemus]

Agreed.

[Reverend Draco]

Humans think - lower life forms use teh feelz as the arbiter of what is.

[-Umbriel-]

It's also a function of law enforcement's desire for self-promotion. I could accept the local cops being slightly more aware of whether a predator might be in the neighborhood. The attitude of "Sound the alarm! Ready the torches and pitchforks, and pat yourself on the back for your vigilance!" is what I see as the far more disturbing trend.

[Zeb]

That explains the emotions, perhaps, but this guy didn't do anything but ask directions. So why the fuck are they looking for him?

[Notorious UGCC]

Your story of a real predator is scary.

It sounds like his thing was to act normal in order to get his victims in his power.

An unfortunate side-effect is that acting normal now becomes a sign of a potential sex criminal.

Likewise with crooks who try to get into a house "because my car broke down," and so on with other criminals who prey on trusting people.

How do you tell that the normal-acting stranger with a perfectly plausible story is really a criminal trying to play you for a sucker so he can victimize you?

The thought can really lead to paranoia.

Add that to the ways these crooks ruin things for everyone else.

[Limpee Wiltstock]

Er and how many times is it that a youngster get approached by some wandering jackass arsking directions? I must hae been approached hundreds of times by the time I was 15. How many times I get raped for my trouble? None. How many times did anybody I personally knew get raped when being arsked for directions? None. You'd do better to be afraid of letting your kid near cows during a storm since they might attract lightning (one of my neighbours restricted his children in this way, and they grew up to be upstanding, god-fearing peace officers.).

But then, when I was growing up, people were still talking about the last time some guy raped a young girl and got himself hanged from a lamppost on the high street.

[SFC B]

A couple weeks ago a "concerned mother" posted a warning on the community Facebook page about how some nefarious black man had tried to abduct her precious snowflake daughter and her friend, and warning everyone to be on the look-out for this scary person. As it happened I was out running in that very place at the very time this near-abduction occured. There is zero chance what was reported happened. I was right there. It was a landscaper driving down the street. He stopped and asked about a street address (every street in this neighborhood is named so it's a pain in the ass to find that there is a Whispering Pine and Whispering Oak within a quarter mile of one another). I know that's what he asked about since he stopped and asked me the exact same question when I ran by him 30 seconds later, and then the girls failed to mention anything about a possible abduction when I jogged by them, still playing outside, maybe a minute after that.

I interject on the page and say I saw what was happening and what either the girls reported to the mother, or the mother posted was grossly wrong. Needless to say I'm the bad guy though for believeing my lying eyes when this laborer interacted with the girls for, about half a minute and then drove off for the other side of the neighborhood.

[Pope Jimbo]

We have a crazy lady on our block who is convinced that every strange car that drives down our street is filled with child abductors who are out to get her daughters. Due to the curvy/cul de sacky nature of our neighborhood we rarely get non-residents driving on our streets.

When someone does get lost and drives down the street it is awesome to watch the crazy lady give them the evil eye. Even more amusing is the fact that any potential abductors who would be willing to grab her kids would never pass the vision test to get a drivers license.

[AceDroman]

This landscaper was really looking for that snowflake's Whispering Eye

[Cloudbuster]

If you go to the NSW Media Release Archive

http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/n.....se_archive

there are 17 "child approach" incidents since August 12 -- less than a month!. Most of them fairly innocuous or inconsequential. A few legitimately frightening. Apparently it is the case that being male and talking to a child is regarded as criminal behavior.

For comparison, according to crime statistics

http://www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/D.....h_2015.pdf

there were 264 abductions from March 2013 to March 2014 in New South Wales (not broken down by age of victim or relationship to perp), and apparently sexual assault is the provincial hobby, as there were more than 10,800 incidents during that period (not broken down for severity or age of victim).

[R C Dean]

So, without those breakdowns of the data, we really can't say if these people really are hosting a thriving pedo-rape culture, or are a bunch of hysterical ninnies.

If the former, why isn't the mother being slapped around for letting her 12 year old daughter roam a rape zone unaccompanied?

[Zeb]

And how many people live in NSW? Like 11,000?

[Zeb]

Apparently it is the case that being male and talking to a child is regarded as criminal behavior.

I fucking hate that. Kids are cool and fun to talk to. It sucks that I have to think twice about doing so.

[Notorious UGCC]

"If you go to the NSW Media Release Archive"

At first I thought that was the *NSFW* Media Release Archive

[Pope Jimbo]

I grew up in a tourist trap of a town (412 lakes within 25 miles of the town). One of our favorite past times as a kid was playing "who can send the tourista asking for directions on the longest goose chase?".

We would regularly send them in the exact opposite direction. My wife still doesn't understand why I will never ask for directions...

[Don'tTreadOnMeChipper]

I tell my women passengers that an ancient rite requires the asker of directions to offer his women passengers to perform a sex act for them. That pretty much stops the nagging.

[Suthenboy]

This morning on NBC news (my sister-in-law watches that drivel) I saw part of a report on the safest school in America. If a school shooter attacks the school, which apparently happens all of the time, the children have been through drills on how to escape in an orderly and efficient manner. Foggers have been installed in the ceiling and will fog the hallways and classrooms so that the shooter can't see targets, a siren begins wailing and I am sure some other shit that I didn't have the patience to watch. I got pissed off and left the room. All of this is pure hysteria. We are raising our children to be quivering, helpless, emotional basket cases. I guess the demoralization of America continues.

Nation. Of. Pussies.

[Suthenboy]

http://www.today.com/news/go-i.....sen-t42771

Here is a link.

*Barf*

[Don'tTreadOnMeChipper]

That is gonna be so much more fun than pulling a fire alarm......

[Carston]

This reminded me of the Community episode where the dean was turning the community college into a dance club at nights, which of course necessitates fog machines:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLjwwH_2dyM

[Pope Jimbo]

Maybe the fogger is to create the proper dramatic environment for when the kids walk down the hall in a v formation with their own automatic weapons to get back some from the school attackers?

That would be worth it. You don't want to look like those sniveling cowards who ran out of Columbine.

[Detroit Linguist]

Actually you need all the children to hold pistols out, arms straight, with both hands, swivelling 180 degrees to cover all sides. The leader makes incomprehensible gestures with his hands about who is to go where and do what--I've seen this on SYFY all the time.
But it's shameful that the school isn't teaching the hand gestures.

[R C Dean]

I love the fogger.

Let's make the school as disorienting as possible for panicked children and any cops who may accidentally wander in while the shooter is still running loose.

[Pope Jimbo]

Maybe the real purpose of the fogger is to prevent the cops from getting PTSD. If the hallway is all fogged up the cops won't see the blood and gore from all the kids they hit when they start panic firing into the school.

[0x90]

Foggers have been installed in the ceiling and will fog the hallways and classrooms so that the shooter can't see targets.

Thanks a lot. If you thought you'd been lectured ad nauseam on how Sandy Hook et al didn't happen before, just imagine how much more they're not going to have happened when the place has been deliberately obscured by a literal fog.

[Cloudbuster]

Shit! That would be like being in a horror movie if you got turned around in the fog, with a mass shooter on the loose.

I am fairly certain of two things. 1. Fog doesn't stop bullets. 2. Mass shooters are indiscriminate shooters who will fire blindly into fog.

I'd rather have a gun.

[Notorious UGCC]

NBC News was showing Stephen King's *The Fog*?

[Notorious UGCC]

"Foggers have been installed in the ceiling and will fog the hallways and classrooms so that the shooter can't see targets, a siren begins wailing"

If you *really* want to get a good horror-movie vibe going, keep the fog, but instead of sirens, play a recording of some girls slowly singing Ring Around the Rosie.

[RAHeinlein]

I received my city newsletter this weekend - special must-attend event for parents at the library b/c sex trafficking can happen to ANY CHILD, ANYWHERE...

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

If the man asked for directions, shouldn't he be relatively easy to find?

[Micu5]

Clearly Australia is not a safe country. We should send the FBI, Homeland Security, NSA and a few college administrators to help them make it a more safe and happy place, where nothing bad ever happens.

[Rt. Hon. Judge Woodrow Chipper]

How dare a man talk to anyone younger and female?

In a civilized country, this 12-year old whore would be sentenced to death.

[Alan@.4]

Personally speaking, I would have credited Australians with having better sense. Sad to note, I would perhaps have been wrong.

[The Grinch]

It's comforting in a way to know we aren't the only nation who's gone completely insane on this issue.

[Alan@.4]

The Grinch:

I guess it would depend on how one spells or defines "comforting".

[melpeexxx]

Bird man arrested in USA who hid in tree and urinated down at girls returning from school. But no reports are lodged against perverts asking young ladies for directions.

[Loki]

Where'd they find that picture of SugarFree?

[IMissLiberty]

Journalists never seem to answer the real questions. Had this girl been taught to fear such approaches? Was this showing in her body-language, and read by the concerned neighbor who asked, "what's wrong"? (If so, that's setting her up to be a target, since most predators prefer to pick on the people who seem weak (e.g., terrified.) All of that seems likely and not particularly outrageous.

Like a game of telephone, who knows what was communicated to police. "Trust your instincts" -- or at least consider them, is good advice, but it's hard to convey one's instincts to another person with any accuracy. It starts sounding like contageous hysteria.

Perhaps the police recognized the "suspect" and had been looking for him, already. Too bad the journalist did not report the motives of the police. At any rate, there's too little information here to get upset about it.

[fafalone]

Just the other day I saw two young girls about 4 or 5 sitting on a bench in the far corner of a parking lot, with nobody around for blocks. This wasn't a park or school, it was a bench with nothing near it typically occupied by the homeless in an urban area that's 10 minutes away from NYC, and there a cart full of food sitting 10' away. It really made the situation look like no one was coming any time soon; that's definitely too young to be left on a bench in a deserted parking lot with not a soul in sight.
As an adult male I was far too concerned about being detained if not outright arrested to ask where their parents were. I watched from a block and a half away to make sure an adult eventually returned to them since neither ignoring the situation or calling the police seemed appropriate, but that was certainly too far away to do anything when one of them ran into the street and almost got hit by a car.
An adult did eventually return after 10 minutes, from someplace where they did not have a line of sight. Just kept thinking the whole time how absurd it was that I should be afraid to simply ask if they were ok. Fresh in the news was the story of a kid who was actually abandoned, who sat for hours before a social worker happened upon him. Kids are less safe because of this ridiculous attitude; if that driver hadn't braked as fast as they did, that girl would be dead because I was too worried about kidnapping and pedophilia allegations to stay and talk to them.

[Lee G]

Do you see it now?

http://img.loveitsomuch.com/up.....vi/vintage 80s 90s italian styled blue and white sweater mens large-f88648.jpg

Damn you Reason for taking away my linking.

[Lee G]

Well crap

[kbolino]

is this what you meant?

[Paul.]

MY EYESSSS!