Wayne Cassell: Monster jailed for raping two 15yo girls at Wollongong beach

Two teenage girls who were stalked, and raped, by a man at a Wollongong beach held hands to reassure each other they would survive the ordeal. The predator has now been locked up for nearly a decade.

The Dapto predator who stalked two teenage girls before raping them at a Wollongong beach has been sentenced to nine years behind bars.

Wayne Anthony Cassell learnt his fate in Wollongong District Court on Wednesday after previously pleading guilty to 11 charges including eight counts of sexual intercourse with a child aged 14 to 16, two counts of stalk or intimidate with the intent to cause fear of physical harm and one count of intentionally incite a child aged 14 to 16 to perform a sexual act.

The shocking events played out before dawn on a Saturday in January, 2021, when a then 42-year-old Cassell saw one of the victims, a 15-year-old girl, at 7-Eleven in Dapto and asked her to perform a sexual act on him.

She refused despite Cassell threatening her before her friend, another 15-year-old girl, arrived with the pair followed by the monster to the nearby McDonald’s.

The girls flagged with McDonald’s staff they were being stalked by Cassell and they tried to assist, escorting them out and ensuring he had walked in a different direction.

The victims made their way to Dapto Station where they had originally intending on going to catch a train into Wollongong.

However, a “pissed off” Cassell confronted the girls at the station and boarded the northbound train with them as one of the girls messaged a friend about the unfolding situation.

Wollongong rapist Wayne Cassell will be behind bars until at least 2026. Picture: Facebook

After hopping off the train at Wollongong, Cassell followed the girls to Wollongong Beach despite their attempts to run away from him.

The frightened teenagers feared Cassell would turn violent or tell their parents they had snuck out of home which led to them agreeing to allow him to masturbate in front of them in the bushes at the beach.

However, this rapidly escalated with Cassell “aggressively” raping both girls with the court hearing they held hands to reassure each other they would survive the ordeal.

Judge Andrew Haesler told the court he would give the summation of the facts, but felt it wasn’t required to voice the full horror of Cassell’s exploitation of his victims.

After Cassell had left the girls, one of them called a friend and said “he made us have sex with him, we didn’t want to.”

“We didn’t even agree, we barely, we barely agreed on just watching,” she went on to say while the other girl told another friend they “didn’t have a choice”.

Cassell was arrested four days later where he initially denied the accusations, instead insisting they had approached him for sex.

Wayne Cassell was sentenced in Wollongong District Court on Wednesday. Picture: Dylan Arvela

This story changed, however, when police showed him an image taken by one of the victims mid-act, with Cassell claiming the girls had told him they were 17.

In court on Wednesday, Judge Haesler said Cassell had been before to court on numerous occasions, but “not for sexual offences and never for anything as serious as this”.

The judge told the victims, who were present in court, what had occurred was “not their fault and they should not take any responsibility for what occurred, only Cassell [should take responsibility]”.

“Every act of involving the sexual exploitation of a child is serious,” Judge Haesler said.

“There is an absolute prohibition of sexual acts on a child.

“What was done was done only for the offender’s sexual gratification and there was no regard for the victims.”

The full term will expire in January, 2030, however, the judge put in place a non-parole period of five years and 10 months meaning with time already served Cassell could be released from prison in September 2026.

Originally published as Wayne Cassell: Monster jailed for raping two 15yo girls at Wollongong beach