A suspected child abduction in which a young female student was allegedly dragged down a South Australian primary school corridor by a stranger has sparked a major police investigation.
Police say a man was seen walking into Glenelg Primary School about 10am on Tuesday.
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He was described by police as “behaving suspiciously” on school grounds before leaving the area.
Parents revealed shocking details about the terrifying order to 7NEWS on Wednesday, saying they were told the female Year 4 student was dragged down a school corridor by a man she did not know.
They say the man walked onto the grounds, entered a classroom building and climbed the stairs to the second floor, where he grabbed the girl outside the toilets in front of her friends and teachers.
“(He) had dragged her halfway along (the corridor), which is about where my daughter’s classroom is, and … then he got scared, maybe she was screaming, and then he ran away,” one mum told 7NEWS.
“It’s really horrible to think they got that far in and no one had stopped them. It’s a long way to get into the school.”
A friend of the victim said the man had looked at the girl under a toilet stall door and took photos of her before she ran screaming, The Adelaide Advertiser reports.
“He came into the school building, he was looking at her, taking photos of her under the door when she was in the toilets,” Seva, 11, told the newspaper.
“She screamed, and then she ran out and the man started chasing her up the stairs.
“Everyone in my class is scared. I don’t really feel safe at the school anymore, because I’m afraid it might happen to me.”
The claims have left parents shaken, with another concerned mum telling 7NEWS “it’s madness”.
“I think it’s terrifying, I can’t believe it happened,” she said.
“What that child went through must have been devastating,” another said.
“(I felt) scared for the children, you want it to be a safe place when they come to school.”
Police were called to the school about 10am, but by the time they arrived no suspect could be found.
The man is described as being about 180cm tall, bald and was wearing a knee-length light blue shirt, black pants, a black face mask and was carrying a beanie.
Parents claim they were left in the dark about the terrifying order.
“I heard nothing, they just said there was an incident and that was it,” one told 7NEWS.
A letter was sent to parents stating police were investigating an incident on school grounds but made no mention of an abduction attempt.
The school principal declined an interview request by 7NEWS, but said the student involved and her family have been offered support.
Government spokesman Tom Koutsantonis said the claims were “terrifying”.
“We will make sure police have all the resources they need to investigate and get to the bottom of this,” he said on Wednesday.
Anyone who may have seen a man matching the description, or has dashcam footage near the Diagonal Road school, is urged to contact police.
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