The mother of a little girl abducted from a Kmart toy aisle during Christmas shopping by a sexual predator has broken her long-held silence.
The mother of a little girl abducted from a Kmart toy aisle during Christmas shopping by a sexual predator has broken her long-held silence.
Jane’s seven-year-old daughter Amy* was snatched from North Lakes Shopping Centre during peak Christmas shopping in 2018 by Sterling Free.
The convicted paedophile saw an opportunity to act and took it.
“I started going around the shop… went to the pet section, went through to the toy section but couldn’t see her anywhere,” Jane exclusively told 7NEWS.
A brief separation allowed Free to lure Amy away.
What he said to her is not and may never be known.
“For whatever reason, she followed him quite willingly,” she said.
Free drove the child to bushland in Pumistone Passage and sexually assaulted her before returning her to the shopping centre.
“We still don’t know why she was returned, probably never will know.”
Noticing something was awry with her daughter when asked what happens, Jane escalated the issue to police.
Police say if she hadn’t, they believe Free would have gotten away with the crime and eventually reoffended.
For now, he remains behind bars, appealing his eight-year sentence.
Watch the interview here.
*Names have been changed to protect the family’s identity.
This story first appeared on 7NEWS and has been republished here with permission.
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