A man has been charged after he allegedly tried to force a woman into his car in Melbourne’s north.
CCTV captured the man appearing to grab hold of the 27-year-old woman and trying to get her into his car along Forest Street in Whittlesea about 6.20pm on Friday.
She managed to break free and run from the man, who then took off in his ute.
The woman’s screams were heard by neighbours who described the situation as “pretty concerning”.
Just 20 minutes earlier, 15-year-old Ally Hawking and her younger cousin, Zoe, were playing with their scooters along nearby Oak Bank Boulevard when the same man allegedly approached and asked for directions to Kinglake.
“He was really close to us, told us to come look in the back of the car at the maps, then he opened the back door and that’s when me and Zoe left,” she said.
A good Samaritan walked the girls home.
“I was very scared and I felt very nauseous after it,” Ally told 9News.
Ally and her cousin managed to get away unharmed but the Whittlesea community is now on high alert.
The 15-year-old’s mum, Amy Hawking, said Ally was unable to sleep afterwards.
“We were all beside ourselves,” she told 9News.
“It’s horrible the way it’s affected us when he didn’t even get them, let alone if he had gotten one of them in the car, it’s sickening,” Amy said.
Police pulled over the Mitsubishi ute along the Midland Highway in Shepparton about 9am yesterday.
A 39-year-old Mill Park man was arrested and has today been charged with aggravated burglary, two counts of aggravated assault and attempted kidnap.
He has been remanded to appear in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court tomorrow.