A BRIT baby and her sister, 7, were found abandoned in a locked hot car with just “a bag full of yoghurts and juice” in Tenerife.
The Arona Local Police are now searching for a 38-year-old man who had “lied” about being the dad of the siblings and fled the scene shortly after assuring officers he had nothing to do with them.
The horrifying incident took place around 6pm on Monday, June 17 but local authorities have only recently released information in a detailed report.
It confirms that the initial alarm had been raised by a woman who spotted the youngest of the two girls inside the vehicle outside the Apolo Commercial Centre in Los Cristianos in southwest Tenerife.
The unnamed citizen, a 34-year-old woman from Las Galletas, told police that the elder sibling soon emerged and said their dad was at a hairdressers inside the shopping centre – before locking herself in the car.
After 15 minutes passed with no sign of their parents, the woman decided to raise the alarm to authorities, with officers quickly on the scene.
They managed to convince the older girl to unlock the vehicle and were able to identify the sisters by the passports and vehicle rental contract located inside, the Policia Local Canaria report confirmed.
There was also documentation of the man who was allegedly the girls dad – but they were unable to contact him.
Three agents and an officer proceeded to search the inside of the shopping centre for the girls’ father but no one claimed responsibility for the children.
One man, however, initially denied any relationship with the girls and gave a different name to that on the documentation in the car.
But after officers managed to obtain further details from the car rental company, it soon emerged he was responsible for the vehicle and the girls inside it.
Despite fleeing the scene, the dad sent a 35-year-old Polish man to fetch the girls, believed to be one of his friends.
He told officers that the subject had asked him to pick the kids up “because he couldn’t”.
However, police refused to release the minors until their parents were fully identified.
Even after the Polish man continuously requested for the alleged perpetrator to return to the scene, he refused.
Officers informed the Juvenile Prosecutor’s Office of the situation and were ordered to transfer the girls to the Nuestra Señora de la Paz Maternal Centre in La Laguna.
But the mum of the siblings, a 27-year-old British tourist, soon arrived on the scene to collect the children after being contacted by police.
After verifying her identity and informing her of the situation, the officers handed over the two girls.
A report has since been filed to the Juvenile Prosecutor’s Office and the incident is now classed as a case of child abandonment.
The 38-year-old man, believed to be the girls’ dad, is now subject to arrest for the alleged crime of abandonment of minors.
