‘We want her back home’: Police, family of missing 15-year-old girl from Scarborough appeal for help to locate her

Toronto police along with the distraught parents of a 15-year-old girl from Scarborough who has been missing for almost three days are pleading for her safe return.

Toronto police along with the distraught parents of a 15-year-old girl from Scarborough who has been missing for almost three days are pleading for her safe return. Ruqayyah was last seen on Saturday, July 11 at 11:30 p.m., near Markham Road and Sheppard Avenue East. She is described as standing five-foot-four, with a thin build and shoulder length black hair.

Ruqayyah was last seen wearing a grey hooded sweater, grey jeans, and black “Converse” shoes with white tips. “Her family has not seen her has not heard from her since she went missing, and we are very concerned for her safety,” Insp. Erroll Watson said during a news conference at 42 Division late Tuesday afternoon.

“We are asking the public to review any camera footage or any dashcam footage from the last few days to look for anyone who matches the description.” Ruqayyah’s father Taha Khan said he wants his daughter to know that her family, especially her four younger siblings – two brothers and two sisters – “love her and miss her deeply.” “We want her back home.

We want her safe. We want her back. If anyone has seen anything, please come forward, share information with the police, and help her help us bring our daughter back home,” he said.

The teen’s mother Firdous Hussein said she hopes Ruqayyah sees this report and “knows that she is very much loved and missed.” “We are really concerned about her safety, and please, if you’re watching this and hearing this, please find the police and let them know that you’re missing and that you want to go home. We’re all waiting for you to come home, please, okay?’,” she said.

“If anybody sees her, please, please call the police so that she can come home safe to us.” Khan said they believe their daughter, who is in Grade 10, may be on her own. Her parents they aren’t sure about her exact whereabout but believe Ruqayyah could be in the downtown area as she was spotted near Ripley’s Aquarium at around 6 p.m. on Sunday and had asked two people for water.

One of them spoke Swahili, which Hussein speaks, so they believe it was Ruqayyah who had approached them. They went down there and searched for several hours but she wasn’t located, he said.

“She is just another girl trying to have fun,” said Khan, adding shortly before his daughter went missing she’s wanted to go out with friends but they told her to get to bed. “And soon after, she left,” he said. Hussein, who described her daughter as “very artistic and loving, especially when it comes to her two younger sisters, said they “really miss her a lot, and (are) waiting for her to come home.”

She said Ruqayyah was at the mall earlier that day with a friend. “She was so happy when she came back and she wanted to chat with her friends online. I was like, ’Okay, sure, fine.’

But then, you know, she wanted to do more and it was 11 o’clock,” she said. “It was already getting bedtime, but she really, really wanted to, and she was not very happy about that.” Missing teen recently lost a friend: parents Hussein added that her daughter is “very distressed right now” as her best friend has recently died.

“I think that’s what’s causing her a lot of distress and she kind of feels hopeless about that,” the girl’s mom said. “We’re really fearing for her safety. So if anybody finds her, we need her to be reported to the police right away, please.”

Ruqayyah’s dad said they’ve been trying to help their daughter cope with her mental health struggles but it’s been difficult to get help. He asked anyone who is downtown or in other popular places where young people often hang out to keep an eye out for his daughter. “Please look for shaded areas where she may be laying down because she probably hasn’t eaten for three days and she’s probably thirsty with the heat so she may be laying down looking for rest.”

Hussein added. Anyone with further information is asked to contact Toronto police at 416-808-4200 or Crime Stoppers anonymously.