Man charged after stealing car with baby inside
A 37-year-old Para Hills man at the centre of a major police search has been arrested and charged after he allegedly stole a car with a baby inside.
Eastern district detectives and patrols arrested the man at a home in the CBD at about 6pm on Monday night and later charged him with abduction and illegal use.
He allegedly stole a Honda Jazz with a four-month-old baby boy in the back seat early on Monday morning outside the Fourth Ave Deli on Fourth Avenue in Klemzig.
Police said as the 29-year-old mother and car owner “momentarily left the vehicle” with her son still inside, the alleged offender pulled up in a stolen grey Mazda BT ute.
He got in the Honda and started driving away, prompting the mother to rush towards her car in an unsuccessful attempt to stop him from driving off.
“This morning police received a call from a very distraught mother in regards to her vehicle being stolen with her four-month-old child in the rear seat of the vehicle,” Superintendent Matt Nairn said yesterday.
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The car and baby were found by police officers about an hour and a half later on Wilson Court at Enfield after an extensive search involving what Nairn described as “every available resource in the metropolitan area”.
“An ambulance has attended along with police and now mum, and we can confirm the child is safe and well,” he said.
“It’s a great relief to South Australia police to reunite mum and child and I really think that you can imagine the distress that caused mum.
“To call it despicable is an understatement.”
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The boy was found in his back seat capsule and was taken to the Women’s and Children’s Hospital as a precaution.
Nairn said the mother and alleged offender are not believed to be known to each other.
The Mazda ute was allegedly stolen from East Avenue at Black Forest earlier on Monday morning.
The Para Hills man was refused police bail and will appear before the Adelaide Magistrates Court later today.
Police also arrested a second man on an outstanding warrant at the CBD house on Monday evening.
Meanwhile, police have charged a 43-year-old New South Wales man with murder following the discovery of a body at Venus Bay on the Eyre Peninsula yesterday.
The alleged murderer is known to the deceased.
He has been refused bail and will appear in the Port Lincoln Magistrates Court later today.
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