An 18 year old female, walking on Forth Street in North Dunedin at 4.25pm on 7th May was reportedly grabbed by a passenger in the back seat of a parked vehicle, in an attempt to abduct the young woman.
Despite the driver aiding the passenger in pulling her into the vehicle and also attempting to push her onto the back seat of the vehicle, the victim managed to fight her way out of the vehicle, and was physically uninjured.
The Dunedin Polices’ website state that: “The vehicle is described as an older 1990s type station wagon in dirty condition with black roof racks. It was parked on the left hand side of Forth street facing North.”
The occurrences of abduction (which are grouped alongside harassment) are more or less stagnant, with 264 incidents in March 2016, 273 in February, and 258 in January. Of the 264 incidents in March 2016, only 33 were strangers to the victim, which despite being over one a day shows how rare this offence is in relation to abductions or harassments where the victim and the offender are known to each other.
Moreover, despite Dunedin seemingly having a plethora of serious criminal behaviour, involving stabbings, abductions, robbery and extortion, total offences have been at their lowest during this March than any month in the six month prior to it.
In addition, the Highgate Dairy in Maori Hill was robbed at knifepoint by a man wearing a bandana, black gloves and had a bag over his shoulder. He was 178cm tall and of medium build and the ODT noted that the “man demanded cash but left with nothing, and was seen heading north on Highgate after leaving the dairy.”
The incident comes a short while after a spate of vehicle arsons, and a stabbing of a Dunedin man in the neck and back outside the “Bottle-O” liquor store just two weeks ago.
As usual, the police are appealing to anyone who has information about the vehicle or witnessed the attempted abduction take place.
Contact them on 03 471 4800, or anonymous information can be passed on to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.