Teenage heroes come to rescue of disabled man
Published: September 21, 2006
TWO Werris Creek girls have been commended for their role in the safe return of an autistic man who went missing from Quirindi on Tuesday.
Glen Pemberton went missing from his disability day program in Stewart St about 2pm prompting a police patrol and search within the
township.
Five hours later Mr Pemberton had still not been located and with daylight fading fast, and his inability to communicate effectively, concerns for his welfare were escalating.
Emma Stewart and Josephine Laverty, both 17-year-old Tamworth High students, were travelling towards Quirindi from Werris Creek en route to Willow Tree when the pair spotted a man in a paddock 12km from Quirindi at about 7pm.
“I’d spoken to my mum who works with the day program and she’d told me Glen had gone missing,” Emma said.
“We both knew him because we used to catch the bus together into Tamworth.”
The girls then stopped the vehicle and made their way towards the paddock fence.
“We called him over to us and told him ‘we can take you home to your mum’,” Emma said.
“Then we called my mum to tell her we’d found him and she came in the work bus and picked him up.”
Glen’s mum Jan Pemberton said he was known for leaving places unexpectedly but she always “prayed he would arrive home safe”.
“Glen doesn’t think about time, where he is or anything around him,” she said. “I’m very thankful they found him – who knows what could have happened to him.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care, which runs the day program, praised the girls’ efforts.
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