Mr Cruel raped, kidnapped girls, but was never found

A former top cop who searched for child rapist Mr Cruel tells how the evil predator could have targeted up to 20 more victims. Listen to the podcast.

On August 2, 1987, an armed man wearing a balaclava broke into a family home in suburban Melbourne, bound the hands and feet of the couple who lived there and locked them in the cupboard.

He then tied the couple’s son to the bed, before raping their 11-year-old daughter.

In December 1988, a gun-wielding, balaclava-clad man broke into a home, bound and gagged a terrified couple, before abducting their 10-year-daughter. She was released 18 hours later.

Almost two years later, another home was broken into. The man, armed with a knife and gun and wearing a balaclava, abducted a 13-year-old girl, who was home alone at the time. He drove her to another location, where was sexually assaulted for 50 hours, before being released.

Until the third offence took place, the cases hadn’t been linked. Enter Detective Senior Sergeant Chris O’Connor, who quickly put the pieces together.

Detective Senior Sergeant Chris O'Connor before his retirement. Picture: Supplied

“We’ve got an 11-year-old victim, a 10-year-old victim and a 13-year-old victim, he’s broken into the house when there’s people at home,” the now retired detective told Gary Jubelin’s I Catch Killers podcast.

The young girls have been sexually assaulted, and in offence two and offence three, they’ve been taken from the premises and released”.

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Mr O’Connor believed one man – dubbed Mr Cruel – was responsible for the attacks in suburban Melbourne. Had the offences occurred today, he says the connection between the cases would have been made much sooner.

“Both the process and the material gathered information gathered would have been of a much more in depth and complex quality.”

As it stands, the case remains unsolved, the offender was never caught.

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“(We were) dealing with somebody who was very confident, very prepared. He walked with that (third) girl through the streets in darkness, to his waiting vehicle, then drove off.”

Mr O’Connor and his team worked on the case for around eight months, before he seemingly struck again in 1991, only this time the girl was murdered. The offender also wore a balaclava, was armed with a knife, and abducted 13-year-old Karmien Chan, who attended the same school as the third victim, from her Templestowe home. Her body was found 12 months later.

At the time, police were criticised for not releasing more information, but Mr O’Connor says, there was simply not enough information to share.

“And what we did have, we wanted to use for any interviews,” he says.

“It’s a judgment you make at the time.”

Gary Jubelin is the host of the top-rating podcast I Catch Killers.

Mr O’Connor said the pattern of Mr Cruel’s crimes revealed he was “confident, competent and nothing is going to stop him from doing it again”.

He said other potential Mr Cruel victims could be out there.

“The police knew of another 20 abduction rapes that could have been associated with this offender,” he said.

Mr O’Connor never stopped looking for Mr Cruel, who he believes may have been responsible for up to 20 additional abductions and rapes.

“I was still working on it when I retired.

“I’ve often thought about (what happened to him), I really don’t know. What I am very confident of is that he wouldn’t have stopped of his own volition.

“Sex crime is a fantasy-based crime. Almost exclusively, you cannot live out your fantasy. That’s why they don’t stop.

“I still I remember sitting opposite the father of victim number three … and I said, ‘one day I’ll be sitting opposite this offender and I’ll have the pleasure of contacting you and letting you know’. Sadly, he’s since passed on, and I won’t have that opportunity, but I am very confident still that somebody will resolve this.”

Originally published as Mr Cruel raped, kidnapped girls, but was never found