Fears held for Dunedin girl missing in Aust.

Press, 20 November 1981, Page 6

Fears held for Dunedin girl missing in Aust.

NZPA Perth The disappearance of a Dunedin girl, aged 14, after a holiday in Western Australia has prompted an Australiawide search. The girl was last seen at Sydney’s Mascot Airport six months ago, waiting for a flight to New Zealand. Her disappearance has the police, relatives, and friends fearing for her safety. The West Australian police say that they are treating the case as an abduction. They are searching for a man, aged 30, whom they think may know something about the girl’s whereabouts. The missing girl is Petrina Jo Smith, who came to Australia from Dunedin earlier this year with her parents and younger sister for a working holiday. They lived for several months at Mount Magnet, in Western Australia, where Mr Smith was mining. According to a neighbour, Petrina Smith was “terribly unhappy” in Australia and wanted to return to New Zealand. She had been “going steady” with a boy, John Devlin, aged 17, who lived across the road from the family in Dunedin. She had kept in touch with him while in Australia and had made plans to return to live with the Devlin family. Mrs Noeline Devlin said from Dunedin yesterday that she had offered to look after Petrina and paid her fare back to New Zealand. Her parents had agreed to the move. “Her parents told me that a man, who was aged about 30, had shown a lot of interest in her at Mount Magnet,” said Mrs Devlin. “Petrina’s father had warned him off because of her age.” Detective Sergeant Darryl Lockhart, of the Perth C. 1.8., said yesterday that the man left Mount Magnet two

weeks before Petrina Smith with the intention of driving to Perth and then returning. He did not return and his vehicle was found abandoned several weeks later at Boulder. On May 26. Petrina Smith boarded an aircraft at Perth and flew to Sydney. She had several hours to fill in while waiting for a connecting flight. Detective Sergeant Lockhart said that a man answering the description of the man at Mount Magnet had made inquiries at Mascot Airport about the girl on that day. He was accompanied by another man. The police had traced two persons Petrina Smith spoke with at Mascot Airport. She had told them that she was going to meet two friends and travel with them to Queensland. Mrs Devlin said yesterday that she and her son could not believe that Petrina had gone on her own free will. Her belongings were loaded on the flight to New Zealand and, arrived without her.