Search for Manurewa predator ongoing, 'zero tolerance' within community says councillor

The van the man was driving who allegedly approached the 13-year-old. Photo / Supplied

There have been no major developments in the police investigation to find the man who allegedly approached a teenage girl for sex in Manurewa last week.

Police are appealing for anyone with information to step forward, meanwhile, the mother of the girl is becoming increasingly irritated.

Elsewhere, local councillor Angela Dalton says there is "zero tolerance" towards child predators and the Manurewa community will unite against them.

The van the man was driving who allegedly approached the 13-year-old. Photo / Supplied

The 13-year-old was allegedly approached multiple times by the man around 4pm on Friday in the Thompson Terrace and Morrin St, Manurewa area.

He allegedly offered the girl $50 for sexual favours before driving around the block and offering her $100 to get into his van with him.

The frightened teenager did not get into the black, box-shaped family van with the man, instead, she ran home to flee from the man.

The girl's mother, who asked to remain anonymous, first spoke to the Herald on Monday and said she was "disgusted" by the actions of the man.

"I posted [about it on Facebook] because I didn't know what to do, I posted it to try and get some help to catch this person," she said.

"I've been imagining if there were other people in that van. They could have grabbed her and all sorts of yucky stuff went through my mind.

"I'm disgusted, it's yuck and I'm really heartbroken that this could happen to my daughter, to one of my kids."

On Thursday last week, a man was arrested after allegedly trying to snatch a child who was walking to school with a parent in Favona, South Auckland.

Meanwhile, the principal of the school the girl attends in South Auckland said they were not aware of the incident that unfolded last Friday afternoon.

The principal said their students were "pretty good" about knowing what to do if they were approached by strangers.

The start of Thompson Terrace, off Morrin St in Manurewa. Photo / Google

Auckland Council Manurewa-Papakura ward councillor Angela Dalton said she was not aware if children were approached regularly in the area.

However, the community would no doubt surround themselves around victims as they would not tolerate any sort of abuse on the vulnerable, especially children.

"There is a zero-tolerance for any person who preys on our most vulnerable of people, especially children", Dalton said.

"Manurewa will unite against any person who considers it their right to do so by increasing our vigilance alongside our police force."

Police told the Herald yesterday they were making a number of inquiries to establish exactly what took place on Friday afternoon.

They also asked for anyone who witnessed the alleged approaches or anyone who saw anything suspicious in the area to come forward.