Kane Kelly faces court over alleged historic ‘sex attacks’
A 29-year-old man has been refused bail after he was arrested and charged over a spate of alleged sex attacks in 2012 and an alleged rape near Wollongong in 2014.
Illawarra Star
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An Illawarra man has faced court for the first time since his arrest last week, accused of several “sex attacks” and the violent rape of a 22-year-old woman at a Fairy Meadow beach in 2014.
Kane Dalton Kelly, 29, cried and waved to his partner as he was refused bail by Magistrate Robert Walker at Wollongong Local Court on Monday, days after he was arrested and charged.
Police charged Kelly with nine offences late last Wednesday afternoon, including four counts of sexual assault, four counts of commit acts of indecency and assault with act of indecency.
A set of police facts tendered to the court on Monday allege Kelly targeted random women who were “alone in isolated areas” and at times, attacked his victims from behind.
Police will allege Kelly’s spate of attacks began on February 1, 2012, when he followed a young woman who was running along Kenny Street in Wollongong. Police facts allege the woman saw Kelly following her on his pushbike, before he exposed his genitalia and started “playing with them”.
The woman kept running when Kelly allegedly rode up beside her, masturbated then “smiled and rode off”.
Police will allege Kelly’s second attack occurred just days later on February 5, just a few hundred metres from where the first incident took place.
Police facts allege a then 22-year-old woman was walking along Ellen Street about 10pm, when a man pushing a bike snuck up behind her and grabbed her.
After grabbing her, it will be alleged Kelly then committed an indecent act, before the woman was able to break free.
The woman’s pants were forensically analysed by police following this incident, which returned a profile of an unknown man, dubbed ‘Profile A’.
Just under a month later, police allege Kelly attacked three women in a 45 minute window, this time on Northfields Ave.
Between 5.45pm and 6.30pm on March 1, it’s alleged he acted indecently towards the women on separate occasions, before fleeing on a bicycle.
One of the women notified a University of Wollongong Security officer about the alleged incident, who followed Kelly until he was apprehended by police.
Once arrested, police found Kelly, who was riding a pushbike at the time, in possession of a backpack, which allegedly contained a balaclava a pair of large framed black sunglasses.
Each of the women who reported the indecent acts on March 1 were shown “computerised identification presentations” of Kelly, but did not identify him. He was released without charge and the matters were suspended.
But, police will allege Kelly attacked again just under two years later on January 1, 2014, when he left a young woman fearing for her life after a violent rape.
Police facts tendered to the court allege the woman was walking along Fairy Meadow Beach around 2.30am, when Kelly approached her from behind, and pushed his forearm against her throat.
The woman told police she feared for her life and kept saying “don’t kill me, what do you want,” to Kelly, before he allegedly said “I just want sex.”
Police facts allege Kelly dragged the woman into the sand dunes, before he ordered her to take off her clothes, and commenced a vicious rape for at least 30 minutes.
It’s alleged Kelly only stopped the rape when the woman saw people in the sand dunes and screamed out to them for help.
“The accused stood up and fled the area,” police facts read. “A group of males came to [woman’s] aid and called police.”
Police will allege Kelly left a shirt behind, which was forensically analysed for any DNA.
The shirt allegedly returned a DNA reading that matched that of Profile A from the indecent act in 2012.
The attacker remained at large for several years before Wollongong detectives reopened the case just under two weeks ago and arrested Kelly.
In an interview with police after his arrest, Kelly denied the allegations and said the DNA matching “was a mistake”.
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When refusing his bail on Monday, Magistrate Walker noted the serious nature of the alleged offences and the strength of the prosecution case.
“The case is based on DNA evidence after police say they found a match,” he said.
“When something like this happens it indicates [the person] has no respect for the law or women for that matter.”
Kelly will remain behind bars until his next appearance in November.