Warnbro abduction: Man charged after nine-year-old allegedly lured into car in Perth

A man has been charged over the alleged abduction and assault of a nine-year-old girl as she walked to school in a Perth suburb. 

Ryan Ashley Darken, 37, has been hit with four charges following the incident at Warnbro in the city’s south including detained another with intent to prevent/hinder a person doing an act, deprivation of liberty and assault.

A parent at the school allegedly noticed the girl getting into a silver ute about 8.45am on Friday before she was later found outside a nearby supermarket in distress, barefoot and with cable ties on her hands. 

A nine-year-old girl was found with her hands bound by zip-ties outside an IGA in Port Kennedy (above) on Friday after she allegedly got into a stranger’s car

WA Police surround a ute the arrested man was allegedly driving 

The parent who allegedly witnessed the girl getting into the ute was immediately suspicious and alerted the school, which sparked a major police operation when her whereabouts could not be accounted for. 

Darken is set to appear in Perth Magistrates Court on Saturday.

Worker Alicia Janse Van Vuuren told The West Australian the girl was transferred from the small shopping centre in an ambulance.

‘We saw her coming out of IGA and saw her being taken into the ambulance,’ she said.

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‘We were shocked by it, she looked tiny. She was crying and distressed.

‘I thought at first she had lost her mum but she didn’t have any shoes on which I thought was concerning.’

Another witness said they saw police collecting bags of evidence from the scene before leaving at about 5.40pm. 

Forensic officers were also seen at a bushland location understood to be connected to the alleged abduction.

WA Police released footage of the dramatic moment officers arrested a man in his 30s driving what is alleged to be the car the child was taken in.

Police have charged a 37-year-old man with four offences (pictured, the man’s arrest)

A worried parent spotted the young girl allegedly getting a silver car at about 8.45am on Friday while she was heading into school (pictured, the IGA where the girl was found)

The man, wearing a high-visibility work uniform, leaned against a silver ute while officers announced over the radio they had a ‘suspect in custody’.

Acting Detective Inspector Scott Johnson from the sex crimes division commended the parent who first reported the alleged incident.

‘That’s probably one of the primary reasons that this resolved – a parent noticing that something wasn’t right, seeing a child get into a car when they were almost at school and reporting it straight away – it’s of utmost importance,’ he said.

‘It’s one of those things that parents need to have that hard conversation with children about stranger danger and talking to anybody or going with anybody or doing anything online.’