The little girl’s body was found in a creek in Heidelberg West at 2.45am yesterday, nearly 17 hours after her mother Sofina Nikat, 22, reported a “shoeless stranger smelling of alcohol” had abducted Sanaya.
Nikat said she was pushing Sanaya’s pram in Olympic Park, a popular area in Melbourne’s North-East when the man – described as being of African appearance, between 20-30, 6ft tall and dressed in all black – approached and snatched the baby, described by Nikat’s brokther Habib Ali as “an angel”.
“She was a very cute, a very good little girl,” Ali told the Herald Sun. “Her mother is devastated. It’s very frightening.”
Nikat said she chased her baby’s abductor for a while, but couldn’t catch him so returned to her home with her empty pram to contact authorities.
Police visited Nikat’s nearby home yesterday, searching for clues to the little girl’s death. Detectives went through rubbish and searched the home, and are attempting to get access to the CCTV footage of a number of homes in the area that might provide information about what happened.
They also searched the home of Nikat’s brother.
Nikat was escorted away in an unmarked police car but police stressed she wasn’t being arrested but removed for “welfare purposes”.
Police say the only confirmed suspect was the alleged abductor, but said police were keeping an open mind.
Detective Senior Sergeant Stuart Bailey said local parents should be extra vigilant.
“This is obviously extremely concerning for Victoria Police if this is a random abduction,” he said.
“We think it’s completely random at this point in time.
“We need to be careful and alert, given what’s taken place at this present time.”
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