A Sydney mother has told a man who attempted to abduct her three-year-old daughter he doesn’t deserve to live and should hand himself in to authorities.

Police are investigating whether the man may be behind a nearby attack which saw a five-year-old girl approached by a man in Glebe on Saturday morning.

In that incident the man indecently assaulted the girl before running off when her screams alerted her mother, police say.

In both cases, the males were described as being of Indian appearance, about 170 centimetres tall and wearing a T-shirt and tracksuit pants.

Detailing the latest incident, NSW Police say a three-year-old girl was playing in Pioneers Memorial Park in Leichhardt, in Sydney’s inner west, on Tuesday evening when a man approached and spoke to her.

“This Indian looking man came up and started talking to my child, and my child turned around and she pointed to me and next thing, he just turned around walking in the other direction,” the girl’s mother told the Seven Network on Wednesday.

“I ran over and just basically grabbed my child back, pushed him and his reply to me was he thought she was lost.”

The mother says the man should hand himself in “and get what’s coming to you – you don’t deserve to live.”

Detective Inspector Gavin Beck told reporters in Sydney on Wednesday the police will explore any possible link.

“It’s just an example of parents being alert of what’s appearing around them and, in this case, that’s what the parents have been doing,” he said.

Another mother had the fright of her life when a man attempted to abduct her 15-month-old toddler in Sydney’s southwest last week.

The boy was in the children’s play area at Macquarie Street Mall in Liverpool on Thursday when a man in his mid-40s picked him up and began walking away.

The toddler’s mother – who again had been nearby watching her son – yelled and ran towards them to save her son from the man.

He was described as being of Mediterranean or Middle Eastern appearance.