Kidnapped, I'm so lucky

It was a Tuesday and I was in Grade 1. I was 6 years old and  I had my swimming bag with me.  I was walking home from school with a friend and we’d made it to the top of our street when a car pulled over.

A man in a blue singlet opened the passenger door and asked us to get in. 

He said ‘your mum told me to pick you up.’ I remember feeling reluctant, but my girlfriend jumped in, so I did too.  I remember he was naked from the waist down and was masturbating with a white towel.  I remember feeling embarrassed, nervous and knew something was wrong. 

He drove away from our house.  He said he needed to get something at the shop before dropping us off.

He drove past our street.  He asked many questions about our bodies, it felt wrong.  He stopped at the local milk bar and gave me 50c and asked me to buy him some matches.  I went inside the milk bar and purchased matches, when I came out he was gone.

He was gone with my friend.

I stood and cried.

An elderly lady came up to me and I briefly told her the story.  She walked me home and then had the horrible time of telling my mum what had happened.  My mum then had to ring my friend’s parents and tell them their daughter was still missing.

The police were called and all I can remember is waiting for my girlfriend to come home.  It was dark and I was eating fish and chips. 

She did come home that night.  The police found her several suburbs away.  She’d had a terrible experience and had been sexually assaulted by our kidnapper. 

These memories are very vivid in my memory from 30 years ago.  I will never take for granted how lucky I am.  How lucky I am that I got in the car second so that I could get out of the car first at the milk bar.  I will always have guilt about my friend.  She endured something so that I didn’t. 

Soon after this the ‘Safety House’ campaign started; the safe houses in our community that children could go to if they felt threatened or intimidated on the way home from school.

No one drove to school then, everyone walked.  Has society changed so much that we don’t trust anyone anymore?

I’m sharing my story to raise awareness. For others to know that there are terrible people out there. 

I don’t think it’s the answer to completely shelter our children from the general community as we will not be there forever to protect them.

Teaching our children the reality of our cruel world (to suit their age) teaching our children to be aware of their surroundings.  To trust their ‘gut’, to listen to their feelings when something doesn’t feel right.

We need to teach our children to be aware of others behaviours and if they feel uncomfortable, listen to that feeling and act on it.  Leave the situation. 

Teaching our children to be strong, confident and to be aware of their surroundings at all times may save them one day.

I was lucky. Many people are going missing everyday and some will never be found. 

My thoughts are with the many families of those still missing.