Kmart kidnapper admits to abducting a seven-year-old girl from a Westfield shopping centre and subjecting her to indecent treatment
- A man who kidnapped a seven-year-old girl from a Kmart store pleaded guilty
- Sterling Free, 26, abducted the girl from a Kmart in Brisbane in December 2018
- He took girl to Pumicestone Passage, about 30 minutes' from shopping centre
Sterling Mervyn Free (pictured) admitted to kidnapping seven-year-old girl from a Kmart store last December
A man who kidnapped a seven-year-old girl from a Kmart store and subjected her to indecent treatment has pleaded guilty.
Sterling Free, 26, abducted the girl from a Kmart at Westfield North Lakes in Brisbane in December 2018.
He took the girl to Pumicestone Passage, about 30 minutes' drive from the shopping centre, before bringing her back to the store.
Free pleaded guilty in the Brisbane District Court on Wednesday to taking a child under 12 for immoral purposes, deprivation of liberty and indecent treatment.
The girl had been shopping with her mother when the father-of-two told her to 'follow me', the Courier Mail reported.
The girl, seven, had been shopping with her mother when she wandered into a different aisle of the toy section (pictured). Free had been watching the girl and took his opportunity to abduct her
Sterling Mervyn Free (pictured) has been remanded in custody, he will appear in court for sentencing in October
He took her to his car and drove her to Pumicestone Passage where she was assaulted.
The girl's distraught mother had called on store staff to help find her.
After desperately searching for more than 30 minutes - by which time the girl would have been close to 30 kilometres away - Westfield security eventually phoned police.
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In total, the young girl had been missing for more than an hour-and-a-half.
Free later dropped the girl at a car wash near the shopping centre.
The girl's mother found a scratch on her back and a Facebook post was circulated in search of the kidnapper.
Free was arrested at his home two days later.
The father-of-two drove with the girl to remote bushland more than half-an-hour away and assaulted her. Free was then captured on CCTV dropping her back at Kmart
Prior to his arrest Free had worked at a local Fantastic Furniture store.
Free's lawyer Shaune Irving, told the ABC outside of court his client was 'somewhat relieved' to have the end in sight.
His client had showed a level of remorse, he said.
However, Mr Irving would not go into details about the facts of the case.
'He's given us pretty detailed instructions that he wants to resolve the matter … and obviously have his punishment delivered and he wants to do that as quickly as possible.'
Free has been remanded in custody until sentencing in October.
He took the girl to Pumicestone Passage, about 30 minutes' drive from the shopping centre, before bringing her back to the store
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