New details emerge about four-year-old boy who went missing from a public pool for half an hour only to be found naked with a male stranger in the change room
- Police called to Angelo Anestis Aquatic Centre in Bexley, Sydney, on Saturday
- One woman reported seeing mother screaming and hugging her infant son
- Police confirmed the NSW child abuse unit is investigating potential assault
- The same pool is the subject of a Covid scare, which occurred on Sunday
- NSW Health issued warning to people who attended the pool on Sunday
Police are investigating whether a preschool-aged boy found naked in the change room of a Sydney swimming pool with a male stranger had been assaulted.
New South Wales Police said in a statement supplied to Daily Mail Australia that the the Angelo Anestis Aquatic Centre in the southern suburb of Bexley North was closed last weekend after ‘a report that a four-year-old boy may have been assaulted within the facility’.
Police officers were called to the Angelo Anestis Aquatic Centre at Bexley, in Sydney, on Saturday afternoon
Angelo Anestis Aquatic Centre at Bexley addressed the shut down over the weekend on Facebook
‘The matter has now been referred to the State Crime Command’s Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad who have commenced an investigation.
‘A crime scene was established, and examined by specialist police.
‘Samples, including items of clothing, were seized and taken for forensic examination.’
The police also appealed to the public for anyone with further information to contact Crime Stoppers.
A woman said she was phoned by pool staff to pick up her younger sisters who were swimming at the facility at the time
According to a 7News report, the boy was found wearing no clothes in the bathroom with a man after going missing for 30 minutes.
On Sunday, a woman told Daily Mail Australia she was phoned by pool staff to pick up her younger sisters who were swimming at the facility at the time.
‘The bathrooms were all closed off with police tape, then all of a sudden a mother was crying and screaming, hugging her son,’ she said.
The woman, who asked not to be named, said staff had been looking for the child.
‘Before that the whole pool was searching for the infant, including all the lifeguards,’ she said.
‘When they did find the boy all you see was police rocked up and everything was closed off and other members in the pool heard from lifeguard the exact same thing that he was found in the bathroom with someone he does not know,’ she said.
The Bexley pool was also subject to a Covid scare on Sunday
NSW Health has also issued guidelines relating to a major Covid scare at the same pool the next day, on Sunday.
An infected hotel quarantine security guard visited on March 13 from 9 to 9.30am before testing positive late on Saturday night.
NSW Health said anyone who visited the pool during those times needs to ‘monitor for symptoms and if they occur, get tested immediately and self-isolate until you receive a negative result.’
Angelo Anestis Aquatic Centre declined to comment further than its statement.