Gold Coast police still hunting ‘smirking stalker’ who terrorised women in violent attacks

A man dubbed “the smirking stalker”, who terrorised Gold Coast women for three months in a series of increasingly violent and horrifying attacks, remains at large despite a long manhunt.

A man terrorised Gold Coast women for three months in a series of increasingly violent and horrifying attacks.

Then he vanished.

The case of the so-called “smirking stalker” remains unsolved after what is understood to be his final attack, 15 years ago this week.

The man’s identity remains unknown, as is the reason for his attacks and why they suddenly stopped after escalating rapidly over a three-month period. The first attack occurred on March 26, 2008 when the stalker attacked a 16-year-old girl on Labrador’s Olsen Ave.

He approached the teenager and made a series of lewd comments towards her, declaring she was “gorgeous” before reaching under her skirt.

A police likeness of a man police dubbed the “smirking stalker. He remains at large today.

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The girl fought the man off and fled the scene.

Just two days later he struck again. On March 28, 2008, the man, who was described by all of his victims as being aged between 18 and 20 years at the time and of islander appearance, snuck into a house on Southport’s Walton Street through its back door.

The home’s occupant, a then 36-year-old woman, realised she was not alone when she could smell the man’s pungent body odour from the bathroom and startled him when she yelled at him to leave.

The man fled the house, leaving the woman unhurt but disturbed.

He struck again just hours later in a house on Labrador’s Proud Street.

Detective Senior Sergeant Peter Gray led the investigation.

The owner, a then-60-year-old woman, woke up in the early hours of March 29, 2008 to find the man sitting naked at the end of her bed. She had woken up after finding her underwear had been cut open on one side.

The man escaped the house after being chased out by the woman but then attempted to break in through the back window. The smirking stalker struck again a handful of days later on April 3, 2008 when he broke into another Labrador house, this time on Government Road and attacked a then-14-year-old girl.

He escaped the house after the teenager’s screams alerted her stepfather.

Police, disturbed by the series of attacks, set up Operation Otherwise, a task-force to try and find the man.

Retiree Barbara Grant was showering in the bathroom of her Ashmore townhouse when she saw the man.

The man, labelled by police as a “brazen sex pest” attacked again on the night of May 20, 2008 when he broke into an Ashmore house on Wardoo Street.

The woman, Barbara Grant, told the Bulletin at the time how it unfolded.

“I called out to Peter (her husband) and it must have frightened him because by the time I got out of the shower there was this body – I could see all of him – and he ran out the door,” said Mrs Grant.

“It was awful. It’s been very shocking. I should have called the police that night but I didn’t. I thought ‘he’s gone, some young hooligan’.’’

Palm Beach resident Suzanne Stokes was attacked in her home by the “smirking stalker”.

The final-known attack occurred in June 2008 when he broke into the home of Palm Beach woman Suzanne Stokes who revealed he smiled as ran into her bedroom and choked her in bed at 6.10am on June 3, 2008.

“It was terrifying,’’ Ms Stokes said at the time.

“He had a smirk on his face. That was really eerie. He said nothing. It felt like he was here for an eternity. It was like a nightmare.’’

The man suddenly let go and fled the scene after Ms Stokes, then-63, screamed.

“I don’t know where he went or how he got out,’’ said Ms Stokes.

“It was such an invasion of my privacy and just absolutely freaked me out.

Detective Senior Sergeant Peter Gray, who led the investigation, pleaded with Gold Coasters to keep their doors and windows locked.

Police confirmed this week, 15 years after the final attack, they have not made any arrests in the hunt.

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