Kyhe Murray commits lewd act at Burwood One in front of child

A dry cleaners’ manager has admitted to performing lewd acts in front of children in public bathrooms in Melbourne.

Khye Murray is a registered sex offender.

A depraved dry cleaners manager has admitted to performing lewd acts in front of children in public bathrooms in Melbourne’s inner east.

Kyhe Murray, 35, fronted Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, January 14, pleading guilty to multiple charges including intentionally engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child.

Murray committed an indecent act in front of a nine-year-old boy at public toilets at Burwood One shopping centre just after 11am on December 14, 2019.

The boy was waiting inside the bathroom’s entrance while his brother went to the toilet when Murray turned around from the urinal to face the boy as he committed the indecent act outside of his pants.

After the brothers left the toilet block, Murray walked out of the bathroom and watched the children as they walked away to find their mum.

Murray committed another indecent act in front of a boy in change rooms at Glen Iris’ Harold Holt swim centre about 5pm on December 18, 2018.

The boy walked into the change room to find Murray standing in a corner wearing only a t-shirt while committing an indecent act and scrolling on his phone.

Murray looked up at the boy and continued, then, after the boy went into a shower cubicle, went and looked through the crack in the cubicle door and watched the boy showering.

The boy then left the change room to tell his mum.

Kyhe, who has been a registered sex offender since 2013, was also found to be hoarding a large stash of child porn when police raided his home in July 2019.

The court heard he had explicit photos of young teenage boys as well as images of children cartoon characters from The Simpsons television program performing sex acts.

The court heard the incident at Burwood One had severely impacted the nine-year-old victim, who had become withdrawn and had made suicidal statements.

Murray was previously fined in April 2019 for directing a sex activity towards another person and was jailed years earlier for possessing child pornography.

His lawyer told the court her client was ashamed of his actions and no longer went to public toilets.

It was heard Murray, who grew up in Albury then lived in Adelaide, had moved to Melbourne to escape his criminal history.

His lawyer pushed for him to be given a lengthy community corrections order, saying Murray had complied with his bail conditions since his last arrest in December 2019.

Magistrate Marita Altman said she was concerned that Murray’s behaviour had escalated.

She adjourned sentencing until March 25 to allow the court to organise an assessment of Murray’s risk of reoffending.

His bail was extended.