SUPPLIED
Police have serious concerns for the welfare of 10-year-old Lily and 8-year-old Pearl, and are asking for the public’s help to locate them.
Two children who have been missing since Christmas Eve have been found in Auckland, police say.
Lily, 10, and Pearl, 8, were taken on December 24, police said.
They were last seen at 11pm on Monday, at a service station in south Auckland. Police were earlier urgently seeking information on their whereabouts, saying they had grave concerns for their safety.
Their mother is due in Wellington District Court on Wednesday after being arrested in Wellington on Tuesday.
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Detective senior sergeant Kevan Verry said the girls were found on Wednesday morning in Henderson, in Auckland’s west.
“The girls are safe and well and will be returned to family who are extremely relieved at this news.
“The people at the address where they were found are assisting police with our inquiries.”
Verry said he was “extremely relieved” that the girls were OK.
BRUCE MACKAY/Stuff
The car linked to the missing children was parked at Te Papa on Wednesday morning.
“This is an example of community and Police working together and I am really appreciative of the public’s help which has led to us locating the girls.”
The mother posted a video on Facebook on Tuesday evening.
“I am here at Parliament in Wellington because it is my hope that I can see the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, or at least she will see me,” she says in the video.
“There is an extreme problem that I have and I have tried going to many levels but it is not working. So it’s my humble petition that I get to see her.
“It involves my two children and I.
“I have driven all this way. It has taken me nearly 24 hours. And without going into too much more detail, please Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern we need you.”
Ross Giblin/Stuff
The mother is due to appear in Wellington District Court on Wednesday.
A car in which they had been travelling was sighted at about 9.40am on Tuesday, in Devon St, New Plymouth. It is a silver 1994 Toyota Camry, registration CLR45, police said.
The girls’ mother was found alone and arrested in Wellington on Tuesday about 9.45pm.
She refused to say where the children were, police said.
Police searched vehicles parked in central Wellington after her arrest, without finding the children.
“The woman has been meeting people through Facebook in the time we have been looking for her and the children, and it is possible she has left Pearl and Lily with one of these people,” Detective Senior Sergeant Kevan Verry earlier said.
“We believe these contacts may have been misled or are unaware of the true circumstances in this case, or the serious concerns that are held for the children’s welfare.”
The car linked to the trio was parked at Te Papa on Wednesday morning.
Charlotte Limet was staying in a camper van adjacent to the silver Camry. She said she saw the car pull up in the early hours of Wednesday.
”A man pulled up in the car and just left it here. Then there was all this attention around it from security.
“I just didn’t understand what the interest in this car was.’‘
The man was Pākehā with brown hair and seemed to be in a hurry, Limet said.
The mother’s Facebook timeline shows she was married in 2011. Lily was born in 2012 in the United States and Pearl was born in 2014.
The woman separated from her husband on December 5, 2016 and left for the Middle East on the same day, the timeline says. She then returned to New Zealand in 2019 and got divorced.
She will appear in the Wellington District Court on Wednesday, charged with breaching a parenting order.
