A frantic search is underway to find the mother of Pumpkin, a little New Zealand girl found abandoned at a Melbourne railway station at the weekend.
She is believed to be about three-years-old and was found at the
station after arriving from Auckland.
Police are now scrutinising security camera pictures of a man seen
with the toddler, who for now, is being called Pumpkin, after the
Pumpkin Patch outfit she was wearing.
The captured footage at Melbourne's busy Southern Cross Railway Station on Saturday morning, shows the toddler talking to a man.
In the next shot the man is alone and soon gone. It is incredible, considering who the police believe the man is.
"We believe the male is the girl's father but we are not 100% on that yet," says Inspector Brad Shallies.
Police think the man and the girl arrived in Australia on Thursday night from Auckland and that following this, the man went straight to the airport where he flew out to the USA.
"She does comprehend English and has been speaking some English. Predominantly, she has been asking for her mother," says Christina Asquini, from the Department of Human Services.
Pumpkin is now in foster care, under a court order, for at least the next three weeks.
"They are both travelling under New Zealand passports, so that would indicate they have been in New Zealand for some time," says Shallies.
The Australian police have contacted police in Wellington, who are searching for the girl's mother or any other family members. They are also searching for the reason why she has been abandoned.
"There is probably 50 or 60 scenarios. I do not know if anybody was meant to be there or if they met with anyone in Melbourne. It is still a very active investigation," says Shallies. "The actions of the adult male may attract some degree of criminality here but that's far from my focus at the moment. I'm more focused on understanding just what has happened and why."
Police officers on this side of the Tasman have visited two Auckland houses at the request of their Australian colleagues as they search for the mother.
Interpol in Wellington is also understood to be involved in the inquiry.
Do you know who the abandoned girl is, or do you have any information which would help in the search for her family?
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