Police: Boy, 10, jumps through window of moving SUV to save sister from sex offender

CULLAHILL, Ireland -- Police are crediting a 10-year-old boy with thwarting the kidnapping of his sister after they say the boy lunged through the window of a moving SUV driven by a convicted sex offender and kept punching him long enough for the girl to escape.

Irish newspaper The Independent first reported the incredible story of heroism Friday morning.

Police told the newspaper the girl,12, was playing on the side of the road near the village of Cullahill when the man stopped to ask directions to a priest's house.

It was as the girl approached the man that police said he lunged from SUV, grabbed her and started to drive away.

But police said the girl’s younger brother literally threw himself through the open window of that SUV and began pummeling the man distracting him long enough for his sister to jump from the moving vehicle.

The children quickly alerted authorities prompting a nationwide search for the man resulting in his arrest 24-hours later.

After taking the man into custody the Independent reported that it was learned the man was a convicted sex offender with offenses dating back to the 1990s.