Man faces Mackay court on rape, stalking charges at Northern Beaches

A man entered a food store asking for a job before allegedly raping an employee, stalking her, and returning to try to rape a teenage co-worker. The six hour ordeal ended with a taser.

A Mackay man is accused of raping a Northern Beaches food store employee before returning to try raping her 17-year-old co-worker.

A Mackay man who allegedly raped a Northern Beaches food store employee has further been accused of also trying to rape her co-worker.

Details of CCTV footage, which captured segments of the alleged six-hour ordeal, were revealed in Mackay Magistrates Court on Thursday.

The man is said to have entered the store shortly after noon on September 1 to ask for the second time about the prospects of employment.

Acting Magistrate John Aberdeen said a senior employee recognised the 37 year old’s voice from an earlier visit and so went to the front counter where they struck up a conversation.

The court heard the man asked whether the 36-year-old woman was on Tinder and afterwards, she agreed to give him a tour of the shop, during which he allegedly put his hand on her hip and possibly her back.

“She told him she probably shouldn’t have taken him back there and any other questions, he’d have to ask the owner,” Mr Aberdeen said.

“She then took him back out the front.”

The court heard the woman then agreed to give the man her mobile number.

“He asked when she finished work that day, she told him she finished at 4 (pm) but she was busy and suggested that he messaged her,” Mr Aberdeen said, adding the man then left the premises.

Moments later, he then allegedly rang the woman to check the number was correct.

She received another call which she ignored, instead texting him to say she could not chat.

He then allegedly knocked on the business’ back door and said he was there to see her.

He then allegedly walked inside the prep room towards her and kissed her on the mouth, then proceeded to kiss her neck while backing her towards the lunchroom.

“She didn’t say stop straight away, she states that she was somewhat shocked,” Mr Aberdeen said.

The man then allegedly placed one hand up the woman’s shirt and put the other down her pants and into her underwear.

“She says as soon as she felt penetration, she immediately moved her hands which were on the bench up to his chest and says something like, ‘This is not happening’,” Mr Aberdeen said.

The woman then allegedly tried walking away but he grabbed her pants.

At 1.15pm, CCTV footage shows a co-worker going to the door of the prep area, and calling out “knock knock”.

The woman then allegedly reacts and pushes the man out the back door, tells him to go, and locks it.

She then “fixed herself up” and adjusts her pants.

“She was asked by her co-worker … what just happened and she described it as a surreal moment,” Mr Aberdeen said.

He added the man’s legal team has submitted that the employee slapped him on the backside but the sound captured on CCTV was not conclusive.

At 1.37pm, the man again knocks on the back door to which the employee answers, this time with a knife in her hand.

“As soon as he tried to touch her again, she said, ‘No that’s it, you’re done, f--k off’,” Mr Aberdeen said.

“From that moment, the atmosphere in this store changes.”

The court heard the woman then told her co-worker what happened, after which the man enters the front of the shop.

The woman allegedly tried to serve him like a regular customer during which he asked her how much he would need to buy to earn her forgiveness.

“(He) made a comment about how good she smelt,” Mr Aberdeen said.

After returning to the rear of the store the woman allegedly spots him talking to her co-worker, and then shortly after receives a text from him saying “come out the back, come and get me”.

“She replies that she was working and asked him to leave,” Mr Aberdeen said.

The court heard another 17-year-old employee then arrived – who is a possibly a supervisor – and arranges with a friend to walk both herself and the woman to their cars at the end of their shifts.

During the 17 year old’s shift, the man allegedly knocks on the back door multiple times loud enough to concern customers.

She answers the door twice, and during the second time at 4pm, the man allegedly squeezes her hand tightly.

“He tells her he’d like to work at the same place because ‘You guys are amazing and really cute’,” Mr Aberdeen said.

He then allegedly steps towards her and slides his hand down to her posterior.

“She went to shut the back door and (the man) put his hand in the way and forced it back open and asked for a message to be passed to (the woman),” Mr Aberdeen said.

“(The senior) then slammed the door.”

At 4.28pm, the man returns to the front of the store and allegedly calls out the name of the 36-year-old woman.

She then allegedly tells him, “How many times do I have to say no? Leave me and get out of my shop.”

The man then allegedly goes around to the back of the shop and hammers on the door, which the 17 year old films.

The court heard the police were called and when they arrived at 6pm, an hour after the women had left, the man was still in the carpark.

Mr Aberdeen said police officers arrested him without handcuffs but as they went to leave for the watch house, the man began pushing on the ceiling of the police car.

An officer attempted to handcuff him but he allegedly pinned the officer against the vehicle, forcing a fellow officer to use a taser.

The man then allegedly ran away on foot but was chased down and taken back to the vehicle.

Duty lawyer Robert Beamish had applied for the man, who appeared via videolink from Rockhampton jail, to receive bail.

He is charged with common assault, entering a premises with intent, evading a fare, obstructing a police officer, rape, serious assault causing bodily harm, unlawful stalking, wilful and unlawful damage to police property, assault with intention to commit rape, common assault and three counts of sexual assault.

Mr Aberdeen said while the man owned property in Mackay and was trying to start a business, having allegedly committed “13 very serious offences”, he posed an unacceptable risk to the community.

A brief of evidence was due on Friday, October 14, with a committal date set for November 16.