Predators. They’re the kind of thing you only envision in movies. You tell your kids not to walk alone, and not to talk to strangers. Not because you really think something will happen to them, but because it keeps your parental instincts at bay. 

But never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that a predator would live and operate so close to home. Don’t get me wrong, Cessnock can be a rough place. A couple of years ago we went through a phase where every other day we were hearing about stabbings at East end. 

But this is different somehow. 

It has been impossible to avoid the media coverage on the rape and abduction that took place in Newcastle this week. 

On Tuesday morning, an 11-year-old girl was abducted from a park at Adamstown Heights on her way to school, where she was raped. Afterwards, she was taken to bush land where she was raped a second time. After a harrowing five-hour ordeal the child was left at the Kotara train station, where she walked over a kilometre to her grandmother’s house.

 

What puzzles me is the contrast between the culture we live in today, and years ago. Our parents tell us about when they were children. The way they used to walk to and from school, walk the streets of a weekend, even riding their bikes on the street at night. 

Nowadays, parents are reluctant to allow their children to walk to school. If they let their children walk to school, they are not alone, and if, worst case, they have to walk alone, they are equipped with a mobile phone and maybe even pepper spray. 

How often do we hear on the news about children who walk out their front door and disappear without trace? 

On our home turf we have instances like Daniel Morcombe, whose parents only recently finally received the closure of having their son buried. Meanwhile, the search for William Tyrell is ongoing. 

 

“Back in the day”, these things supposedly didn’t happen. Yet there are some cases which will never leave our minds. The Beaumont children left home on 6^th January, 1966 and never returned home.

In the UK everyone has heard about the Moors Murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, who murdered five children between 1963-1965.

 

So, is the presence of predators on the rise in our society, or are we just more aware of them now?

With the presence of things like security cameras, smart phones, social media, and the technology-driven society we live in, I don’t understand how it is possible for a child to be abducted from a park in a busy town without a single person noticing something suspicious. That could just be me though. 

With today’s technology and the access to information we have, one wonders if abuse against children has just become more overt than it used to be.

There was a time not so long ago when the parent was always right. They raised their child how they saw fit. If they chose to discipline their child with violence, it was their right. If they wished to violate their child behind closed doors, nobody would know, because the child would be too fearful of what would happen should it be mentioned.

 

Of course, these ideas are all purely speculative. It seems since the beginning of time parents have been warning their children not to take lollies from strangers or get into their car with them, but I am just wondering what has changed over the years. Furthermore: What can we do as a society to stop sexual predators like the one who struck in Newcastle on Tuesday night? Should we make a register that every neighbourhood has access to to know if a sex offender is living in their neighbourhood? Should there be a change in court proceedings so that rape victims don’t have to go through the ordeal of facing their abuser? Should education for health professionals be improved to better spot a potential predator?

 

Sadly, there is no single right answer to these questions. All we can do at this point is keep our loved ones close to us, and hope that incidents like this one can be avoided in the future.

 

For the moment, according to news.com.au, “The attacker is described as chubby with short black messy hair and wrinkles on his forehead and around his mouth, spoke with an Australian accent, and drives a red Commodore.”

Anyone who has any information should contact Crime Stoppers.

My dearest hopes that this offender is stopped in his tracks before he hurts anybody else.

Xoxo Brett