'Stranger danger' spoils ride home

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Less than a week after he started biking to and from school on his own, a Greytown schoolboy was accosted by a stranger who tried to lure him into a car.

The boy's parents, Kirk and Shelley Saunders, are warning other parents to be vigilant after their 8-year-old son, Jaxson, was repeatedly asked by a man to get into his car as the boy rode home from Greytown School on Tuesday last week.

Mr Saunders said the man, who had long messy white hair and a white beard, approached Jaxson on East St, saying to him "get in the car and I'll buy you an icecream".

The man had been aggressive and persistent and at one point got out of his car, an older-model red sedan, Mr Saunders said.

Jaxson, who had recently gone through stranger danger training at school, ignored him.

"He didn't say a word to him and rode off on his bike."

It was the first week Jaxson had been allowed to bike home alone. He was now being driven to and from school.

Jaxson was "shaky and tearing up a bit" as he told the story to his parents, who were shocked something like this could happen in Greytown, Mr Saunders said.

"It was a bit distressing - it took us by surprise. We've recently moved from Auckland and it's something that we expect to happen up there, not in little old Greytown.

"We are lucky he did the right thing."

Mr Saunders appealed to parents in the community to warn their children about strangers.

"You don't like to think that that sort of thing goes on in your community, but parents have got to be vigilant.

"It sort of hits home that these guys are out there, and you can't instil in kids enough that these things happen."

Detective Senior Sergeant Barry Bysouth said police were taking the allegationseriously.

- Wairarapa Times-Age