Knife-wielding Melbourne stalker Paul Coli pleads guilty to exposing himself inside woman’s home

A Melbourne stalker performed a deviant sex act in a sleeping woman’s room before returning with tissues, a torch and a knife.

Paul Coli pleaded guilty to stalking and direct a sexual activity. Facebook.

A “fixated” Melbourne stalker who attempted to enter a sleeping woman’s bedroom while naked and armed with a large knife could be back on the streets in less than a year.

Paul Coli, 47, was sentenced in the County Court on Wednesday to a minimum three-year jail term after pleading guilty to stalking and aggravated burglary.

Coli, who also pleaded guilty to direct sexual activity at another person, targeted his 21-year-old victim in January 2021.

The court heard a fully naked Coli entered his victim’s home, went to the sleeping woman’s bedroom and performed a lewd act.

The victim screamed after she woke and found the fiend in her bedroom.

Coli then ran away, the court was told.

The victim, who did not know Coli, changed bedrooms and installed extra locks and CCTV cameras at her home.

However, Coli returned to his victim’s home days later with a torch and some tissues.

The court heard Coli crept onto the property while fully naked and touched his penis.

Coli then removed a fly wire screen, entered the home and went to his victim’s old bedroom but she wasn’t there.

Coli touched the empty bed, played with his penis and left a note which ordered the victim to perform a lewd act.

Coli left via a window, put his clothes on and fled the property.

The court heard Coli returned about ten minutes later and re-entered the home.

Coli examined three knives while inside the home before choosing a large chef’s knife.

Coli, fully naked and armed with the knife, exited the home and went to the victim’s bedroom window where he attempted to enter the room from outside.

The victim, who had been sleeping in the room, heard the window rattle and saw a shadow outside.

She rang triple-0 and alerted her mother.

Coli dropped the knife and fled.

The victim spotted Coli running along the street naked but he soon returned, retrieved his clothes and a bag and fled again.

Police, who spotted Coli walking topless near a bus stop, arrested the intruder at his home after reviewing CCTV footage.

Coli admitted he had a “bit of a fixation” with the victim.

The victim, in a statement submitted to the court, said she “fears about her privacy and safety”.

“I have been very conflicted living on my own …,” the victim said.

It also feels unsafe and like there were eyes watching me where I could not see …”

The court heard Coli grew up in a stable home and completed year 12 and a business marketing diploma.

Coli, a former hospitality worker, later became a carer for his grandparents.

The court heard Coli was using an ounce of meth a week

Was using an ounce of meth a week

“Whatever fantasy you intended to act out was prevented by her screams … and your inability to enter her bedroom …,” Judge Peter Lauritsen said.

“The fear instilled in her by your efforts emerges from her impact statement …

“The outrageous nature of your offending must be denounced … (my sentences) must act to deter you from behaving in that way again and to protect the community from you …

“Beyond describing your taking of the knife as a disturbing development I cannot find what your intended to do with it …”

Coli, who has spent 734 days on remand, was jailed for a maximum four years and nine months.

He was made a registered sex offender for eight years.

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