Last Monday here in New Zealand a two year girl disappeared. It is heart breaking and would be the hardest thing any parent could ever go through. Instantly the media and what seems like most of the country believed it had to be foul play. Not only did we have the whole Chinese community under fire, as a nine year old told the police she had seen someone looking just like the little girl walking off with a Chinese woman, but we also had all our border patrol on high alert so no-one could get her out of the country, and ads with helplines on the television playing for any sightings of her.
There were messages from the McCann family in Britain who had their daughter disappear two years ago in what seemed like a very similar situation.
The little girl’s mother had turned her back for five minutes when she went missing. Police say they searched the area around her house thoroughly. However, a week later she was found in a drain just 20 metres from her house. Why did it take so long? That area should have been covered in the first 24 hours! How thorough was that thorough search? Isn’t that the most obvious thing to look for? Little kids wander off. Why did everyone assume that we live in a country full of evil people? Accidents do happen, sometimes tragic accidents.
My heart goes out to the Symes family, it’s a tragic event. One positive is that they have the closure, as the McCann family are still searching.
So tragic… I don’t think the blame really lies in the police, they did all they could – from the sounds of things accessing the pipe was a pretty big deal and they had to get out diggers and everything, since it was badly blocked.
On a lighter (well, not lighter, but more ridiculous) note http://editingtheherald.blogspot.com/2009/10/mysterious-asian-i-wanna-get-close-to.html