Family of missing girl appeal for her safe return

The family of a missing five-year-old girl in the Northern Territory has issued a heartfelt appeal to her suspected abductor for her safe return as the search for her enters day five.

Sharon Granites has been missing since Saturday evening, when she was put to bed some time before 11 p.m. at a house in the Old Timers Camp where she and her mother were visiting.

Warning: This story contains details and content that some readers may find disturbing.

She was last seen in the area, holding hands with Jefferson Lewis, at 11.30pm, with police yesterday confirming they believed he had led the little girl away from the camp.

“I couldn’t do anything, just cry,” he said.

“She was a very nice, small, well-behaved, quiet girl.”

Robin said he discovered his granddaughter was missing while looking at the nearby Anzac Day memorial.

‘I heard it was my granddaughter that was snatched and [had been] taken out of jail by a man,” he said.

Lewis had been released from prison just six days before Sharon went missing on charges of violent crimes, including assault and domestic violence.

Police found the garments on the riverbank at the back of the Old Timers Camp where Sharon was last seen on Sunday, but have only just released their findings.

Northern Territory Assistant Police Commissioner Peter Malley said the shirt found by police was Lewis’s “distinctive” yellow and black shirt, captured on police bodycam footage when officers attended the Old Timers Camp for an unrelated mental health call earlier on Saturday.

In addition to the shirt and children’s underwear, a doona cover was also found.

Robin appealed to Lewis through the media to “listen” to him.

“I want you to send that baby back. She’s our baby. It’s our child… she’s just too small. Can you please bring her back? We want to get back safely.”

He urged anyone who spotted the pair to contact him or police as soon as possible

Robin also said that Sharon sometimes had trouble communicating.

“She didn’t really have a voice… she just used a hand gesture,” he said. 

Local MP and Speaker of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly Robyn Lambley today said the entire community had been mobilized in the search.

“We’ve all been looking for her… the whole town is trying to find her.”

She said the small community of Old Timers Camp was a “notoriously difficult place to live.”

The widening manhunt has also reached the highways, with Western Australian police making contact with Lewis’ wife and children in Bolga, who police say are cooperating with authorities.

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