Primary school student made up sexual assault story

The eight-year-old girl who told police she was attacked by a man on the grounds of her Melbourne school has admitted making the story up.

Parents of students at the Glenferrie Primary School in Hawthorne said they were living in a "culture of fear" following reports the girl was attacked and dragged 150m by a man who then tried to take off her clothes, the Herald Sun reports.

In response to the alleged attack on May 15, the primary school erected security fences and was considering plans to give parents secure key-code access to the school.

It took two days for the family to report the attack to the police but it soon gained widespread media attention as detectives released sketches of the alleged "growling and angry" attacker.

The school's principal said the family had undergone counselling and the girl had trouble returning to school.

Police have closed the case but not before parents were engulfed by a "culture of fear", doing all they could to ensure their children were not alone, even at school.

One parent told the Herald Sun she suspected the child was lying.

Source: Herald Sun
Author: Nicholas McCallum, Approving editor: Martin Zavan