The child has been traumatised so much by her ordeal she has been unable to speak to specialist cops about what happened last Saturday
THE seven-year-old girl who was allegedly snatched and sexually abused by a paedo while shopping is so distressed she is unable to speak to cops five days on.
The girl is said to have been lead away from a branch of Kmart just north of Brisbane, Australia, and taken to remote bushland where she was subjected to a horrific attack on Saturday afternoon.
While specialist police officers have been trying to speak to the child, who is undergoing physical and mental treatment, she has been unable to speak to the cops.
Sterling Free, a 26-year-old father of twins, appeared in court to face charges of taking a child for immoral purposes, deprivation of liberty and indecent treatment of a child under 12.
The man, from Morayfield, 27 miles north of Brisbane, was arrested after allegedly taking the girl from the Westfield shopping centre in North Lakes, Queensland.
After approaching her in the Kmart store at Westfield, she was driven to Pumicestone Passage, about a 30-minute-drive away, and was allegedly sexually abused.
The girl, who had been Christmas shopping with her mum, was missing for more than an hour.
According to the , the girl's distraught mum, from Brisbane, has posted several emotional comments on Facebook, in which she alleged the alleged pervert was staring at her daughter.
She wrote: "I never normally leave my daughter so I feel sick thinking about this.
"There was a guy standing there leaning on the shelf... his eyes were just fixed on my daughter and he was only an arm's length away from her.
"I called for her and then he was startled, he looked at me and walked away.
"Straight away, I 100 per cent had a gut feeling that something wasn't right... now that I know what allegedly happened I just feel sick.
"I just feel sick. I had a gut instinct that guy was really creepy. I just had the worst feeling."
Cops made the arrest after scrutinising CCTV footage.
But officers have been criticised for not releasing details of Saturday's incident until three days later.
They said the decision was “for the sake of” the investigation.
A Queensland magistrate has controversially backed the police push to withhold information about the alleged abduction and sexual assault, fearing a “public lynching”.
Several media organisations have banded together and hired a lawyer to fight the closed court order, reports The Courier Mail.
says that Magistrate Trevor Morgan decided to keep the court closed in the interest of “public morality”.
He said: “I need to be sensitive to the victim’s interest; the victim’s interests in this case are very significant.
“I also take into account the interests of the accused, bearing in mind the presumption of innocence is not something we just say, we actually do.”
On social media, members of the public have threatened Free's life and shared his profile, AAP reports.
When the accused molester appeared in court, he avoided the eyes of reporters who fought to be allowed into the courtroom.
It is unknown if Free has applied for bail.
Detective Superintendent Fleming said: "It is a timely reminder that a very small number of people could take advantage [in shops] of an opportunity to harm a child."
Hetty Johnston, founder of Bravehearts, Australia’s leading child protection organisation, said: "Shops and other places are really, really busy around this time of the year, please the message is, keep an eye on your kids."
Police minister Mark Ryan said these type of offences were "very, very rare, but nonetheless, they are disgusting abhorrent crimes".
