Tot's hell ended in arms of neighbor

BY ALISON FOX, ERNIE NASPRETTO and TINA MOORE
DAILY NEWS WRITERS

Posted Wednesday, July 18th 2007, 4:00 AM

A cop keeps watch on Borough Park, Brooklyn, block after girl, 4, was abducted and abused in nabe on Sunday.

Anne Paterna, 78, was sitting outside her Brooklyn home with her sister-in-law at dusk when she saw a 4-year-old girl wandering aimlessly down the street.

"She passed us and I said, 'What is this little girl doing all by herself?'" Paterna said yesterday from her house on 61st St. in Borough Park. "She seemed jittery."

The girl, who was wearing a skirt and blouse, turned around and began walking past again, Paterna said. This time, Paterna intervened - alerted police - and, police say, may have saved the girl from further harm.

Cops credited Paterna with rescuing the little Hasidic Jewish girl who had been abducted, sexually molested and left wandering the streets.

The girl told her she had been playing outside with other children when "a man took me in his car." The girl said the man took her underwear.

"She was very alert, and cooperative and calm," Paterna said. "My prime concern was to get her home."

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the girl did not appear to know her abductor and told cops he was a white man driving a black car. Detectives were exploring whether any similar crimes have been committed in the area.

Kelly, who said the girl was not hurt, called the crime "horrendous."

"You're in this business a long time but you still can get shocked by the depravity of some kinds," he said.

Neighbors in the child-friendly community with a burgeoning Orthodox Jewish population were upset.

"This is a peaceful neighborhood," longtime resident Morris Leiner said. "It's extremely scary. I'm stunned."

Ari Noe, a father of four who lives across the street from the girl, said it's common for large numbers of children to be playing outside.

"A lot of the kids were playing there and all of a sudden she was missing," he said. "Somebody took her."

Noe said detectives came to his house at 3 a.m. Monday searching for any surveillance tapes that might have caught the attacker in the act the day before. He did not have any tapes, he said.

"She's such a cute blondie," said Noe, whose daughters are 5 and 8. "A real adorable girl and everybody knows her."

When her parents realized she was missing, they contacted the Shormin patrol - a civilian patrol group, Noe said.

The group brought the parents to the nearest police stationhouse, a police source said, which connected the girl with Paterna.

The girl fell asleep on Paterna's shoulder while they waited for police, she said, and was taken to Maimonides Medical Center when they arrived.

Noe and his wife, Sarah, spent the early morning trying to console the girl's parents, who were "pretty upset."

"We need security, maybe more cameras," he said.

Paterna's niece, Lillieann Appel, 53, said the girl was lucky she didn't run into another creep after being left in the street.

"She's lucky she found these ladies," Appel said.

Paterna demurred: "It's something that a person who has common sense would just automatically do."

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