Ryan Ashley Darken jailed for kidnapping boy from Warnbro as he walked to school asking for help finding puppy

A Perth man who kidnapped a nine-year-old girl as she walked to school and forced her into his car demanding to help her find a missing puppy has been jailed for more than 11 years.

Ryan Ashley Darken admitted luring the primary school pupil in Perth’s southern suburbs in July last year after telling her he was a friend’s father.

Perth District Court heard he wore cable ties around her wrists and duct tape over her eyes and mouth to prevent her from seeing or screaming.

“Shut up or I’m going to hurt you real bad,” he told her.

Darken had taken her to the woodland, where he had given her money to buy himself a drink, before going to the Port Kennedy supermarket.

Shortly after entering, Darken walked away.

Police were called to the supermarket and the nine-year-old boy was taken to hospital.

Darken was arrested shortly after police spotted his vehicle in the nearby suburb of Warnbro and pleaded guilty to child theft and menacing.

Prosecutor Nathan Fawkes said it was “every parent’s worst nightmare” and “the effects are likely to last a lifetime” for the victim and his family.

Mr Fawkes said Darken told “a series of lies” to get the child into his vehicle, calling out to the girl as she walked to school and telling her he had lost his puppy.

When the girl told him she “shouldn’t get into strangers’ cars,” Darken said she wasn’t a stranger.

“She thought he was a friend’s father,” Mr Fawkes said.

‘Danger for children’

Judge Troy Sweeney said the offense was “limited in time frame” but for the girl’s parents “the fear and trauma was appalling”.

He told Darken that he was “distressed, extremely anxious and under an obligation to get back to you” when he took the girl to the supermarket.

Judge Sweeney described Darken’s behavior as “cunning” and “shady” and said he was a “danger to children”.

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Darken had previous convictions, including arson.

Judge Sweeney accepted that he was “mildly mentally retarded”, had used heroin and methamphetamine the previous day, and had used cannabis on the morning of the offence.

He said the early guilty plea meant the boy did not have to testify, but the case against him remained strong.

He sentenced her to 11 years and four months in prison, with a minimum term of nine years and four months until she becomes eligible for parole.

Outside court the boy’s mother said she was disappointed the sentence was not long enough.

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