An 11-year-old girl has been abducted and sexually assaulted during a five-hour ordeal in Newcastle which police have described as “horrendous”.



The girl was walking through Hudson park in the Newcastle suburb of Adamstown Heights just after 9.15am on Tuesday when she was threatened with a knife by a man who sexually assaulted her, police said.

She was then forced into a red car and driven to bushland where she was sexually assaulted for several hours before being released at Kotara railway station just before 2.15pm.

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Police were called when she returned home and the girl was taken to hospital.

Det Ch Insp Paul Jacob, from the sex crimes squad, said it was worrying the attack was committed in broad daylight.



“It is horrendous,” he said in Newcastle on Wednesday. “It’s our mission to get this person and remove him from the community as quickly as we possibly can.”



Jacob said the girl was doing “remarkably well” given what she endured.



“It was a horrible series of attacks,” he said. “I am very thankful we have a very brave young woman who has been able to help us so valuably in our continuing inquiry.”



Although the man tried to hide part of his face with a hoodie, the girl was able to give police details about his appearance.





A crime scene was established at Hudson park and examined while Newcastle police and the child abuse and sex crimes squad began inquiries.