Triathlete Glenn Hartland insists his innocence ahead of first court date

FACING a dozen charges of rape and assault from multiple women, triathlete Glenn Hartland is adamant he’s stuck in the middle of a police witch hunt.

NICKNAMED the “Tinder Nightmare” by the women he allegedly raped and assaulted, triathlete Glenn Dylan Hartland has some choice words for the police attempting to convict him — “I’m not going anywhere”.

Hartland, a 42-year-old amateur YouTuber, is facing more than a dozen charges built up over a period of two years.

The charges include everything from five counts of rape to numerous types of assault, unlawful imprisonment to distributing a woman’s image without her consent.

Glenn Hartland speaks to ACA.

The 42-year-old Melbourne man was confronted by A Current Affairahead of his first court date next week and used the interview to insist his innocence.

“I’m telling you right now I am innocent. I am going to fight these charges whether it takes 18 months or whether it takes the rest of my life,” he said.

“I am not guilty. I am only responsible for the things that I am responsible for,” he added.

Hartland first appeared in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court in July where his lawyer attempted to stop his charge sheets from being released to the media.

The triathlete claimed the exposure of his alleged charges would ruin the lucrative sponsorship deals he has for participating in triathlons.

Hartland is a successful triathlete.

One of his alleged victims, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the Herald Sun he evaded women by assuming different identities on the online dating app Tinder.

Victoria Police are attempting to charge Hartland as part of their brand new Family Violence Taskforce — and it’s the relative inexperience of the taskforce that Hartland claims is the reasoning for their unwarranted attention.

“I always had respect for the police, that is now basically gone,” he said.

“This is their first big case, they need this to win. But, like I said I’m not going anywhere. When you have people that are saying that you’ve done certain things there are only two ways you can go about it.

You can hold your head high and act with dignity and honesty but I’m certainly not going to say that I’m guilty of rape because that’s a horrible thing,” he ended.

Hartland will face Victorian court next week.

Hartland’s peculiar YouTube channel.

Unrelated cases involving Tinder have sparked concerns about how dangerous the online dating app can be.

As recent as last weekend, a man connected with a woman on Tinder and went to her home in Bondi in Sydney’s eastern suburbs for a late night rendezvous.

However he had been catfished and was jumped by three men who stole his wallet and assaulted him when he arrived at the home.

Speaking to news.com.au earlier this week, senior lecturer in gender and sexuality at the University of Melbourne Dr Lauren Rosewarne said people should be on heightened awareness when meeting people from Tinder.

“Just as we wouldn’t hand over our address, credit card details, photocopies of our birth certificate to a stranger at a nightclub, we should exercise the same reservations online,” she said.

“Nobody is running police checks on the people we encounter at bars and clubs or those tall, dark and handsome strangers we met on public transport. Just because the meeting might feel more serendipitous doesn’t make a stranger any less strange,” she added.