UPDATE: Williamstown police this morning identified a man at the centre of an abduction scare at a Williamstown school.
The Spotswood man, 67, drives around wearing a gorilla mask for fun and thought people would find it funny, police said.
As reported yesterday by the Weekly, police dismissed media reports of an attempted abduction outside Williamstown North Primary on Tuesday.
A staff member reported a man driving past the school in a bright orange wig, after seeing a news item on two men wearing a mask and orange wig driving past Beaconsfield Upper Primary School.
Williamstown’s Sergeant Brendan Gason said it sounded bizarre but the man had innocent intentions.
“He’s a well-respected member of the public. He’s not a criminal.
“He’s been doing it for the last two years. He’ll just drive around with his gorilla mask.
“We had several other reports about sightings in the area – the Newport, Spotswood area.”
Sergeant Gason said police made contact with the man after a member of the public realised they knew the man described in media reports.
“He was shocked when I explained to him how it was linked to a job in Beaconsfield and how the community’s been put in fear.
“We’ve had so many inquiries from the public and local schools.”
“He’s gonna stop it.”
Police say the incident had nothing to do with schools in the area and the man was not targeting children. No offences have been committed and there is no connection between the man and the report of a man in a car wearing an orange wig in Beaconsfield.
Hobsons Bay inspector Richard Paterson said neither incident was an attempted abduction, as reported by some media.
“At no stage during either incident was there any attempted abduction. No child was spoken to or touched by any person.
“While we want people in the community to be alert, especially where there are children involved, it is important for people not to become alarmed over matters that may otherwise by innocent.
“That said, police encourage the reporting of any suspicious activity such as this so it can be fully investigated.”
There has been a recent spate of attempted abductions of children across Melbourne.
On May 1, a man tried to grab a nine-year-old girl at Reservoir.
Five days later, a man tried to kidnap a 13-year-old boy at Coburg.
On May 28, an 11-year-old girl was nearly dragged into a van at Greensborough.
