An elderly Chinese man who found 12-year-old Chong Liu wandering the streets the evening before she disappeared says he rang the police because there seemed to be something wrong with her.
Police say they responded to the call to a takeaway bar within minutes but Chong and the man,Jimmy Lum, had gone. The matter was left there.
Mr Lum, aged 72, said yesterday that he wished he had spent more time with Chong.
He regretted not taking her home so he could have told her family not to let her wander the streets.
He left her in the care of two school friends.
"It's my fault she's missing ... I blame myself," Mr Lum said yesterday.
Chong has now been missing for a week and police are growing more concerned for her safety.
Mr Lum saw a "sad and scared" Chong walking along his street, a few blocks from her home, about 5.15 pm on Monday last week.
He said he had never seen her before. He spoke to her in Mandarin and found she was looking for a friend's house. She seemed jumpy and tried to run off, he said.
Mr Lum, who has lived in New Zealand for 50 years, warned Chong several times that she should not be out on the streets at dusk.
"I warned her ... people might take her and she would never see her mother again ... She said: 'It doesn't matter'."
Mr Lum said Chong had her address written on a tiny piece of paper but she asked to be taken to her school instead.
He and a neighbour escorted Chong to a takeaway bar opposite her school, then called police. Mr Lum said he could not wait for police to arrive because he was late for an appointment. He asked two boys at the bar to take her home.
Police spokeswoman Noreen Hegarty said a patrol arrived at the takeaway bar at 6 pm but Chong had already been taken home and police left the matter there.
The Liu family yesterday left their Gerbic Place home so detectives could sift through it for clues. Bedding from Chong's room has been removed and police say they will do DNA tests if required.
Detective Sergeant John Sutton said it would be wrong to read too much into the house search as it was one of a number of avenues police were following.
