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In brief
- The search for five-year-old Sharon Granites and her suspected abductor has entered its fourth day.
- Recently released prisoner Jefferson Lewis is believed to have lured Sharon away from her town camp residence.
A large-scale search effort for a missing five-year-old girl and her alleged abductor is intensifying as it reaches the fourth day, with officials hopeful that the young girl is still alive.
On Tuesday, numerous searchers combed through the challenging landscape near Alice Springs, determined to find Sharon Granites and Jefferson Lewis, a man recently released from prison.
According to police reports on Tuesday, the 47-year-old Lewis is suspected of enticing Sharon away from her home in the Old Timers camp on Sunday, potentially under the influence of alcohol. Witnesses last saw him holding the child’s hand.
Authorities have noted that Lewis does not have a familial connection to Sharon, though he had been residing with her family at the time she vanished.
Lewis had been out of prison for merely six days before the incident occurred.
At first light on Wednesday, police planned to relaunch a search that would include mounted police horses, helicopter aerial searches and thermal imaging drones.
Community unites to help
The isolated community, which has been urged to come forward with any information, has thrown their support behind Sharon’s family, with over 130 people involved in Tuesday’s search.
Local businesses donated food to help those searching.
On Wednesday, the South Sudanese community sent a message to its members, calling on them to join the search.
“[We] would like to … invite all members of you are free tomorrow from 9am to join the police in search for the five-years-old little girl that missing from Sunday night,” the statement read.
“Thank you for your support at this hard time we pray for the safety of the little angel that is missing and hope that she will be reunited with her family and loved ones soon thank you.”
No sightings of Sharon or Lewis have been confirmed but police did not rule out the pair being within an established 20 square kilometre search zone, telling media on Tuesday they believed the girl was still alive.
Northern Territory senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price said the suspected abduction was “every parent’s worst nightmare”.
“To her family — our thoughts are with you,” she said in a post on Facebook on Monday.
“To the community— this is the moment to step up. Someone knows something.
“Let’s help bring her home.”
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