Mother of toddler allegedly nearly abducted at Yinnar park reveals stranger’s chilling response

A mother whose 18-month-old was allegedly nearly abducted by a man at a park has revealed the stranger looked at her and said nothing when she chased him down.

Julia, a mother-of-five, had taken her kids to the Centenary Park in Yinnar, southeast of Melbourne, on May 5.

She’d been watching her 18-month-old daughter jump on an in-ground trampoline when an unknown man allegedly snatched the child and started to walk off.

The 30-year-old ran after the man and managed to remove her daughter from his grip, but said he just looked at her ‘dead in the eyes’.

‘He said nothing. He just looked at me dead in my eyes,’ she told Seven News.

‘But even when I said: ”Can I help you?” (he said) nothing, he didn’t say one word.’ 

The mother claims the man had been watching her young daughter play, and he fled into the nearby toilets after she chased him down.  

‘I just grabbed her legs and yanked her back. I’m pretty sure I hurt her in the process, but I just wanted to get her back off him,’ she said.

The toddler suffered cuts to her arms and legs as her mother frantically snatched her away from the man.

Victoria Police released a photo of a man they wished to speak to in relation to the incident 

Julia said she was sitting just metres away on a bench when her daughter was snatched. 

‘I still remember; I’ve never shaken that hard. My whole body was shaking,’ she told the ABC.

She quickly grabbed her kids and returned to her car before calling police. 

Victoria Police released a photo of a man they wished to speak to in relation to the incident.

A 45-year-old man handed himself into police on Thursday but was released pending further inquiries.

Investigations are ongoing. 

The terrifying incident unfolded at Centenary Park in Yinnar in central Gippsland, Victoria