Gardai in Galway have warned parents of young children to be vigilant following the latest report of an attempted abduction in the west.
The report by a 10-year-old boy in Claregalway on Sunday brings to three the number of reports in the Galway/Mayo region in the past two months. The boy says he was on his bicycle when he was stopped by a man in a car who told him his parents wanted him urgently. The boy was immediately suspicious as one of his parents is dead.
The description of the car driver, and the vehicle involved, is similar to that given by children in the west Galway/south Mayo region in late April. In the first reported incident to gardai in Westport, a 13-year-old girl was approached by a man near the pier at Bundorragha, Leenane. The man was described as in his 40s, with dark hair and a dark beard, and driving a small red car.
In the second case, a five-year-old boy was playing in the driveway of his house in Westport when he was offered sweets by a man in a car. In this case, the vehicle was described as a red Volvo estate.
The Garda in Westport narrowed the vehicle's description down to a small red car with a blue door on the driver's side, and appealed for help in their investigations. The Claregalway report describes a man with dark hair and a moustache, driving a red car with a blue wing or panel.
The Garda Press Office has confirmed that claims of a child abduction ring in this State have been ruled out, after examination of over 60 reports of attempted abductions around the State. The examination by the Garda Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Unit found that the reports were either hoaxes, innocent approaches by motorists, misunderstandings or incidents exaggerated by children with vivid imaginations.
