Geelong man Thomas McKellar admits directing sexual activity at woman in her 60s

A man who was on bail broke into a Norlane stranger’s home and directed a sexual act at her while she slept in a “scary incident”.

Thomas McKellar broke into the home of a woman in her 60s and performed a sexual activity near her. Picture: Facebook.

A Geelong man who broke into the home of a stranger in her 60s and performed a sexual act near her could soon walk free.

While out on bail, Thomas McKellar trespassed into the woman’s Norlane home about 2am on a night in early April this year and directed a sexual activity at her while she slept.

McKellar immediately fled when the victim woke up and caught him.

The 20-year-old man, who relocated from Melton to live with his grandmother just before this offending, pleaded guilty to directing a sexual activity at another person, trespass, and committing an indictable offence while on bail in the Geelong Magistrates’ Court.

Prosecutor Catherine Jones Williams said McKellar was “in very close proximity” to the woman during the sex act.

She said it was “very frightening” for the victim.

Thomas McKellar was intoxicated at the time he broke into the woman’s Norlane home. Picture: Facebook.

McKellar’s defence lawyer, Greer Boe, said there was “no doubt the offending was a scary incident” for the woman but the two were not known to each other and he did not plan the assault on her.

“The main submission is that the … nature of the offending was committed in a very short time period and there was no indication of premeditation or organisation of the offending,” Ms Boe said.

She added McKellar was intoxicated at the time.

“That is not to detract from his behaviour but to simply put it in context,” Ms Boe said.

She asked the court to consider placing McKellar on a community corrections order and consider imprisonment as time served, meaning he could walk free from the remand centre soon.

Magistrate Jonathan Klestadt said the offending was serious and “no doubt scary but also impacted on the mental health” of the victim.

“It was sexual, it was confronting, it occurred to a woman in her 60s, in her home and, indeed, in her bedroom in circumstances where she was not only entitled to her safety and privacy but to the assurance that such behaviour wouldn’t cross her path in those circumstances.

“The matter of the offending was obviously confronting, (but) it was a short (period) and it didn’t involve physical contact,” he said.

Mr Klestadt also considered McKellar’s young age and a history of disadvantage, including foster homes, throughout his childhood.

He ordered McKellar be assessed for a community corrections order before he returns to the court in early November for sentencing.

Originally published as Geelong man Thomas McKellar admits directing sexual activity at woman in her 60s