AN eight-year-old girl is believed to have been snatched from her bed and murdered within sight of her Bundaberg home in a crime that has shocked the Queensland regional city. Less than an hour after the girl's father woke to discover his eldest child was missing, police found her body in a pipe that ran off a storm drain about 100m from the modest family home.
Her parents have told police they put the girl to bed about 9pm on Sunday night and discovered her missing soon after dawn yesterday.
Neighbours said they heard the father yelling out for her soon afterwards and police were called about 5.45am.
Queensland police said there were "early indications" of a break and enter at the home along the busy arterial road, which crosses much of Bundaberg.
Detective Superintendent Maurice Carless said police had no suspects and were yesterday interviewing the parents to determine whether they suspected anybody of the murder.
"Early indications are it's a possible break and enter at that premises," he said. `We're certainly treating it as a murder.
"We are going through a process of identifying people who may have knowledge of the people and the locality."
A baby was also in the house when the girl went missing, but was not harmed.
The body of the young girl remained at the scene until late yesterday, and Superintendent Carless said he could not yet comment on the cause of her death or whether she had been sexually assaulted.
The identity of the child has not yet been released.
Police held off publicly confirming the discovery of the body until 3pm as they went door to door, interviewing neighbours for a lead to the murder.
Neighbours told reporters they planned to immediately upgrade their home security, with window bars and other measures.
It is believed to be the first abduction of a child from home in the region in living memory.
Bundaberg Mayor Lorraine Pyefinch said the city was shocked by the murder.
"Its terrible," she said.
"I have lived here all my life and never heard of an incident like this. It is unprecedented and has shocked us all; we are a tight-knit community and it is not a high crime area."
Earlier, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh told reporters in Brisbane she felt for the family.
"Our hearts go out to the family of this little girl . . . this is a very, very sad incident," she said.
Last Monday, 12-year-old Elliott Fletcher died in the toilets of Brisbane's St Patrick's College after he was allegedly stabbed by a fellow student.
Critique:
This article shows that kidnapped and murder cases have increased recently. So, parents should take good care of their children to prevent this sad incident. Citizens can also prevent this kind of incident by increase their home security and be careful of the strangers. Government should improve the security to ensure the safety of the citizens. As the conclusion, everyone should act together to reduce this sad incident.
