Yesterday, an attempt was made to abduct a seven-year-old girl on a playground in Funafold, Grafarvogur. The girl’s father assumes that the act was likely planned in advance. He now calls for surveillance cameras to be installed on the playground. The police are still searching for the man.
Man approaches girl on playground
According to Vísir, the girl was on the playground with her siblings when the incident took place. When they got up, a man came up to them and invited the girl to come and see his dogs.
“She said no and then he grabbed her, lifted her up and carried her away. She burst into tears and gave him a knee-kick in the balls,” the girl’s father, Ragnar Örn Ottósson, says. The man seemed to respond to the girl’s resistance and fled the scene.
Police is searching for the man
Ragnar Örn says that the search for the man started immediately and that the police went to the playground about five minutes after the incident. However, the man has not been seen since. The girl’s father is suspicious whether the failed abduction was planned in advance. The girl was able to give a good description of the man. According to her, he was an Icelander, dark-haired with brown eyes, about 170 to 180 cm, wearing a grey sweater and sports trousers.
Ragnar says that he wants to investigate whether the incident may have been caught on surveillance cameras in the vicinity and is surprised that there is not one camera at each playground. “One wonders why it is not possible to install any cameras in such playgrounds,” he says, noting that cameras have been installed at primary schools.
The girl has acted “like a superhero”
Ragnar’s daughter is feeling well and her father says that the family has been praising her for handling the situation right. They want to discuss the issue and point out to her that she has acted like a superhero, rather than hiding the discussion from her.
Now other parents are scared of similar incidents happening and are debating whether to allow their children to play outside without supervision. Ragnar states, “It will take some time. This has become bad when you can not send your child to the playground in Iceland.”
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