Kempsey, Crescent Head rape, ransom case adjourned in court

A man charged with breaking into a couple’s house, detaining and raping a woman before a ransom was paid on the NSW Mid-North Coast has had his case delayed. Here’s the latest.

Kempsey Police Station.

The case of a man charged with breaking into a couple’s home, detaining and raping a woman and holding her to ransom has been delayed due to the “significant” amount of forensic and telephone information still to be compiled.

The 49-year-old is facing five charges in relation to an incident in the Kempsey region on the morning of January 15 this year.

He has not entered a plea and his matter came before Kempsey Local Court on Wednesday, with a police prosecutor asking for an adjournment due to a “significant” amount of outstanding forensic and telephone information.

The accused man, from the Kempsey region, has been denied bail since the alleged incident with court documents outlining a history of convictions for serious violent offences.

Police will allege he raped a woman twice – detaining her for a period before, during and after constituting two charges of aggravated sexual assault while depriving liberty.

Kempsey Local Court today.

Police allege the man attended a Mid-North Coast home, with a man and woman inside at the time, on the morning of January 15 where he allegedly “detained” the woman before leaving a ransom note and forcing her into a car.

They allege he then sexually assaulted her before the ransom was paid and the woman was released at Crescent Head about noon.

The alarm was raised shortly after she was released and Mid-North Coast police began a two-hour manhunt before the accused was arrested on Main Rd at Crescent Head about 2pm.

He was taken to Kempsey police station where he was charged with two counts of aggravated sexual assault – deprive liberty, aggravated break and enter and committing a serious indictable offence, taking and detaining a person with intent to hold to ransom, and demand with menaces intending to obtain a gain or cause a loss.

The case has been adjourned to April 23.

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Originally published as Kempsey, Crescent Head rape, ransom case adjourned in court