By SHAUNA ANDERSON
Her world nearly changed in a minute.
A mother out for a run with her baby son has faced what many of us could not even bear to think about – attempted child abduction, her baby nearly snatched right before her eyes.
Dahlia Jones* was pushing her 14-month-old son in his pram along the Bay Run in Sydney a popular jogging spot.
It was unseasonably warm yesterday and there were hundreds out enjoying the balmy spring day.
41-year old Ms Jones was pushing Myles along her usual jogging route just before 10.30am when a man dressed in jeans and what she described as a blue scarf veered towards her from the bike track.
“He was so strong,” Ms Jones told News Limited. “I just remembered thinking, what am I going to do if he gets my son? How am I going to stop him?”.
As Ms Jones wrestled with the man over her son’s pram a cyclist intervened, slamming his bike in between the terrified mother and the man.
The cyclist yelled at the man “What the hell are you doing?”
But the man ran from the scene.
Ms Jones told News Limited the kind passerby comforted her as she cried.
“He then kept saying to me ‘are you all right, are you all right?’ I said: ‘I don’t know’ and just started crying.”
Ms Jones wrote of the terrifying incident on a local mothers group Facebook page warning others to be on the alert.
“Be careful on the bay run” she wrote. “Just had a man in a blue parka with a blue scarf wrapped around his face grab my pram.”
Other women responded saying that they think they’d seen the alleged attempted abductor, too.
Ms Jones says the incident shook her to the core.
“With everything going on in the world today, I kept thinking, what if that guy had killed me or my child? What if he was looking to steal a random off the street?”
She says that she hopes it was however someone who was “a bit disturbed” rather than anything more sinister.
“I have a mentally handicapped brother and an autistic niece and I know what it’s like when someone like that approaches … it can be unexpected,” she said.
NSW police say the man is described as being of average height and build.
They say at the time he was covered head to toe in clothing; including a blue hooded jumper, pants, black gloves and had a NRL ‘Bulldogs’ scarf wrapped around his face.
They are also appealing for the Good Samaritan who intervened to come forward.
Ms Jones says at the time she was so shaken she did not get a chance to thank the man who saved Myles.
“I didn’t even thank him or get his name. I was in too much shock.”
Anyone with information in relation to this incident should call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or use the Crime Stoppers online reporting page.
*Name has been changed.
Top Comments
Not to be biting at all, just curious, but I wonder if this is the same lady who commented in another post that, while other mums around her at a play date were worried about the recent terror threats, cancelling this and that, she wasn't concerned. Her name was "mylesmummy" from memory. Very glad she is okay and baby too. Scary, scary stuff in a busy area.
So the cyclist didn't bother to chase after the pervert?
Oh come on, I don't think criticism of the cyclist (who probably prevented the abduction!!) is necessary or appropriate.
He was probably completely caught up making sure the woman and baby were okay. He may well have immediately called the cops. He wouldn't have known if the other man had a knife or gun, or get away car, or accomplices. In short, I don't think it's reasonable to say he just couldn't be "bothered".