So very sad !!!!
Update:
An emotional Inspector Gary Davey delivers the news that a child's body has been found. Photo / Supplied
It was with "tremendous sorrow" that Inspector Gary Davey confirmed to a crowd outside a west Auckland home that a child's body had been found earlier this evening.
The body is that of a young child found in a drain.
The property was very close to the Longburn address where two-year-old toddler Aisling Symes went missing last Monday.
Mr Davey said it was too early to say how the child got in the drain or how long it had been there.
Police have spoken to the family.
"The immediate scene has been condoned off and treated as a crime scene," he said.
"I know you've got a lot of questions and so do I."
Mr Davey said the body had not yet been identified as Aisling Symes.
A group of neighbours are holding candles across the road from where the body was found.
Earlier, the Mayor of Waitakere Bob Harvey confirmed to the NZ Herald a body had been found near the Henderson property where Aisling went missing.
As activity heightened on Pomaria Rd this evening, a street connecting with Longburn Rd, neighbours reported a drainage crew inspecting a storm water line near the property with a camera.
A police camera crew also entered the crime scene.
A senior crime officer was seen entering the area with a small box while another policeman entered the area with an industrial flashlight.
Firefighters began working on the storm water drain on Pomaria Rd around 6pm.
The developments saw a crowd of neighbours, children and other community members gather outside the property.
Aisling was last seen at 5pm last Monday, near her grandparents Longburn Rd home.
Police earlier today cancelled a press conference scheduled for this afternoon.
Aisling's mother, Angela, has maintained her daughter went missing while she had her back turned at the house.
She was missing for just over a week before tonight's discovery.
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Case Type: Endangered MissingMissing Date: Monday 05th October 2009
Missing From: Henderson Auckland
Missing Country: New_Zealand
Sex: Female
DOB: Currently unknown
Specific Details:Hair: Light Brown
Eye Color: Unknown
Height: Unknown
Weight: Unknown
Race: White
language: n/a
Special Facts: Aisling is pronounced 'Ashling'. She is considered tall for a 2 year old.Known Circumstances:Auckland police believe it is now more likely that missing two year old Aisling Symes in West Auckland may have been abducted. Aisling (age 2) is believed to have wandered away from a Longburn Road address at around 5.30pm on Monday 05/10/09. When last seen, she was wearing a green parker jacket or ski jacket, blue jeans embroidered with flowers, and had white tennis shoes on her feet.
Police also want to hear from anyone who may have noticed a young girl walking alone in the surrounding streets of Rathgar, Kingdale and Pomaria Roads, or of any suspicious people or vehicles in the neighbourhood.
ANYONE WITH INFORMATION on Aisling's whereabouts is asked to contact the Henderson Police Station on
(09) 839 0600
or 0800 4AISLING - 0800 424 75464
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Please print this poster for Aisling (all NZ)
http://www.police.govt.nz/sites/default/files/news/a4-aisling-poster.pdfThis poster is from the NZ Police and they would like it printed and distributed around ALL OF NEW ZEALAND, not just Auckland!
Please pop one on your car, in shops, on windows out and about, libraries, doctors clinics, dentists, Asian stores, markets, supermarkets, absolutely anywhere you can think of.
You CAN do something to help if you are outside Auckland. Don't feel embarrassed asking everyone to display a copy of this, if it were your child you'd want EVERYONE to get it out there, swallow their pride and keep up the publicity for this little girl.
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Moment is all it took for Aisling to vanishAngela Symes turned her back for the slightest of moments – and her beloved little daughter was gone.
All she was doing was fiddling with a tap when two-year-old Aisling vanished. She said, "She was there, I turned it off, looked behind me again, and she was gone. It was that fast. I just can't believe it, but it was that fast."
Mrs Symes and her husband Alan appeared on television networks to make an impassioned plea for the return of their daughter, who went missing in the West Auckland suburb of Henderson on Monday night.
The pair said they kept asking themselves if they could have acted any differently on the night Aisling went missing.
Their other daughter, Caitlin, had been strong, but was getting more and more upset, asking: "Are we ever going to get Aisling back? "She'll be playing, then all of a sudden she'll go quiet and burst into tears. She's asking us questions like, `If she doesn't eat, she's going to die, isn't she?"' Mrs Symes said.
Mr Symes, a part-time security guard, is a native of Munster in Ireland, has lived in New Zealand for 20 years. Mrs Symes, a fulltime mum, has spent her life in West Auckland.
Source: Stuff.co.nz
