Rockdale indecent assault: woman grabbed and attacked in Sydney’s south
A drunk man stalked a young woman on her way home from a night out for 700m before pulling her to the ground and indecently assaulting her. Matthew Blundell has narrowly avoided jail after the “absolutely terrifying” assault.
A brave young woman chased after a drunk man who stalked her on her way home from a night out for 700m before grabbing her and indecently assaulting her.
Matthew Blundell, 42, was caught on CCTV near Rockdale train station on March 20, 2017 moments before he grabbed the 20-year-old woman around the waist and covered her mouth, then pulled her underwear to the side and groped her genitalia as she struggled in terror.
The Wollongong man pleaded guilty to one charge of indecent assault and was sentenced by Judge Peter Whitford at Downing Centre District Court to a two-year prison sentence to be served in the community after he initially spent 74 days in custody in 2017.
A female witness sitting outside her home on King St heard the young woman screaming before she saw her chase Blundell away from the scene, shouting “Come back here, you do not know what you have gotten yourself into”.
“She looked down and saw someone’s arm wrapped around her waist, (then) the offender placed his other hand firmly over her mouth,” police facts stated.
“The offender removed the hand covering her mouth and put his hand up her dress … pushed her underwear slightly to one side and then touched the victim in and around the area immediately outside her vagina.”
The victim told police she initially believed her friend was playing a prank before she realised something was wrong and began to violently thrash, striking Blundell with her elbows.
When she began to struggle Blundell immediately moved his hands away and fled.
“The victim called triple-0 and told the male operator ‘I had some arsehole come up to me, grab me around the waist, put his hand over my mouth’ and described the touching of her genitalia by the offender,” police facts stated.
A second female witness reading in bed at her King St home heard the woman screaming words to the effect of “get the f*** away from me”.
Judge Whitford said the brief incident would have been “absolutely terrifying” for the victim.
“The consequences for her will likely endure for a long time, if not indefinitely,” Judge Whitford said.
“Women should be able to walk around our city without concern for their personal safety.”
Judge Whitford observed Blundell was a long-term, severe alcoholic whose drinking had “spiralled out of control” following the breakdown of his 10-year relationship.
“None of that mitigated the conduct, but serves to explain the opportunistic nature of the crime,” Judge Whitford said.
“He thought that he would get a thrill from touching the girl but did not have any prior plan to assault her.”
Blundell was identified to police by his ex-partner, who was depicted with him in CCTV footage at a Glebe supermarket topping up the Opal card he used to travel between Central station and Rockdale that night.
The woman acknowledged she had noticed Blundell had cut his shoulder-length hair and altered his appearance from the night of the assault but could not remember when that had occurred.
In an initial interview with police Blundell did not admit to the assault because he had no recollection of the evening.
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“He recalled he did go into the city and pub hopped around Oxford St, and was drinking alone to drown his sorrows alone after transferring custody of his children to his ex-partner,” police facts stated.
“He later admitted he was ‘cruising’, looking for men for oral sex.”
Judge Whitford said Blundell’s best chance for rehabilitation would be if he could obtain treatment for his alcoholism and sexual offending in the community.
Blundell will be required to abstain entirely from alcohol and illegal drugs during his two-year sentence or face full-time custody.
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