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The case against a man accused of trying to kidnap a six-year-old girl at an Adelaide caravan park earlier this year has been dropped.
- Ronald Toft was charged with an aggravated count of attempting to detain a person to commit an indictable offence
- The charge has been dismissed in Adelaide's Magistrates Court
- He was excused from attending today's hearing
In April, Ronald John Toft, 74, was charged with an aggravated count of attempting to detain a person to commit an indictable offence.
Prosecutors previously alleged he approached a young girl near a playground at the West Beach Caravan Park at about 11:00am on Good Friday and asked her to walk away with him.
Mr Toft, who is from Lucinda which is north of Townsville in Queensland, was staying at the caravan park with his wife at the time.
Today the charge was dismissed in the Adelaide Magistrates Court at the request of prosecutors.
During his first appearance in the Port Adelaide Magistrates Court in April, prosecutors said Mr Toft had told the young girl there was a "clown in the camp kitchen" and asked if she wanted to go and see it.
The court heard the girl's mother was nearby and intervened when she saw the pair walking off together.
But his lawyer David Edwardson QC told the hearing Mr Toft had only asked the girl if she was alright after falling down and did not say anything about a clown.
When reporters approached Mr Toft outside court after the hearing, he denied the allegations and said it was a "big mistake".
Mr Toft was excused from attending today's hearing.
Topics: courts-and-trials, law-crime-and-justice, family-and-children, community-and-society, west-beach-5024, adelaide-5000, sa, lucinda-4850, qld, australia