THE PARENTS of missing toddler Aisling Symes last night issued an emotional plea on New Zealand television station TVNZ for the return of their daughter.
Alan Symes, who is from Co Waterford, said the family just wants her home. “It’s time to give her back . . . time has been up for quite some time now,” he said. “Not knowing has been a huge strain for us.”
Two-year-old Aisling was with her parents Alan and Angela at her late grandparents’ house in the Auckland suburb of Henderson when she disappeared at 5.30pm local time on Monday.
New Zealand police have increased border security to try to prevent Aisling being taken out of the country, but admit they are no closer to solving the case. An extensive search has so far failed to find any trace of her.
A visibly distraught Ms Symes told TVNZ last night that she had “spent the first day and a half just clock watching every 30 seconds, [thinking] ‘she’s not back yet, she’s not back yet’ . . . I don’t want to look at a clock anymore. I don’t want to know how long it’s been.”
Clutching Aisling’s Pooh Bear stuffed toy, Ms Symes pleaded with whoever has taken Aisling to release her.
“Aisling needs to be home. She needs to be with her parents and her sister and the rest of the family . . . No matter what you’re going through, don’t do this to her; don’t do this to us. Bring her back where she belongs, please. Just bring her back.”
Ms Symes said Aisling’s five-year-old sister Caitlin has been strong but as the search continues she is getting more and more upset and keeps asking if they are ever going to get Aisling back.
Mr Symes said Caitlin “is saying things like, ‘if she doesn’t eat she’s going to die, isn’t she’ . . . Caitlin is nearly six so that’s her thought process, how she’s dealing with it”.
Aisling’s parents said they keep going over what happened. “Like any trauma you think, ‘what if? What could we have done that was different?’ . . . it happened in an instant,” said Mr Symes.
“She was right there. She was watching everything we were doing. I kept thinking to myself, ‘if I’d just left the washing machine alone and not worried about turning off the tap’. That’s all I was doing. Turning off a tap,” said Ms Symes. “She was there, I turned it off, looked behind me again and she was gone. It was that fast. I just can’t believe that it was that fast.”
Mr Symes said that not knowing what is happening to Aisling is very distressing. “How is she being treated? Is she being bathed, fed okay, changed? We don’t know if she’s happy, whether she’s really upset. If somebody has her, that person could be reclusive. I think they might not be aware of what’s happening in the big world out there. They might not know the pain they’re causing.”
The parents said they have barely slept since Aisling went missing.
“Night is bad. I feel I don’t want to go to bed, I want to be there in case something happens,” said Mr Symes. “In the mornings it’s the opposite. I don’t want to get out of bed because it’s another day, possibly without Aisling.”
The Symes thanked their family and the extended New Zealand community for their support. Mr Symes ended the interview by saying: “The not knowing has been a huge strain for us. Living every hour of every day not knowing.”
National Party MP Pansy Wong and a team of Cantonese, Mandarin, Punjabi and Korean translators helped explain the search in local immigrant communities in Auckland as it was reported that an Asian woman was seen with Aisling shortly after her disappearance.
“We’re explaining to them why police want to talk to an Asian woman,” said Ms Wong.
“Asians are not particularly sensitive at this stage about them being targeted. Their first concern is to find Aisling,” she added.
Police issued a plea yesterday for the person who took Aisling to drop her off at a safe place, preferably a hospital.