Every parent's nightmare
Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2010 1:15 am
Police have begun a second day of searching for Kiesha Abrahams, a curly-haired six-year-old missing from her home in Sydney's west.
The little girl had been safely tucked into bed on Saturday night, but yesterday morning her mother found her bed empty and no sign of her.
Kiesha was probably barefoot and wearing her pink pyjamas and lilac Pumpkin Patch jacket, police said.
"She'd be hungry by now, she loves her food," her mother's friend Alison Anderson said yesterday afternoon, 18 hours after Kiesha was last seen.
Police have set up a command post outside the Mount Druitt apartment block where the family of four live.
They are considering searching bushland at Bidwill, a few kilometres north of Mount Druitt, but are today concentrating on searching closer to Kiesha's home, a police spokeswoman said.
The first 24 to 48 hours were crucial, Police Minister Michael Daley said yesterday.
Kiesha, a kindergarten student at Mount Druitt Primary School and older half-sister to a two-year-old boy and one-month-old girl, is described as a "happy-go-lucky girl".
Her mother, Kirsty, called the police as soon as she discovered her oldest daughter missing between 9am and 10am yesterday.
She had put her daughter to bed at 9.30pm on Saturday, and the unit was locked. But when she noticed the girl was missing, the front door was unlocked and there were no signs of forced entry.
The weather was fine overnight on Saturday and for much of yesterday, with just a light drizzle about 6pm, Inspector Lagats said.
About 100 officers and SES volunteers combed bushland, parkland, ponds and stormwater drains near her Mount Druitt home yesterday until the search was scaled down at nightfall. The police helicopter had searched ponds and waterways and police dogs had also been deployed, he said.
"She does not wander away. She has never left her home," Ms Anderson said. "That's what we find very unusual. Her mum is very very cautious on everything."
Jim Taupau, the father of Kiesha's stepfather, said the girl was scared to go out by herself and her mother always took her with her. Kiesha's stepfather - the father of Kiesha's two younger siblings - mother and biological father, who lives nearby, were all helping police with their inquiries, Inspector Lagats said.
"We are open to all lines of inquiry … the child may have walked off, or may have met with foul play," he said. "Obviously due to the child's age of being six, we hold fears for her safety."
Ms Anderson said Kiesha's mother was shocked and the whole family were "a mess". She, Mr Taupau and other friends and relatives had gone out with photographs to speak to people in the area, looking for the girl.
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