Police appeal for information about a 1986 sexual assault

A WOMAN, sexually assaulted twice by the same man 30 years ago, can’t forget his pungent smell. He is still roaming the streets.

‘His smell sticks with me to this day’

A MELBOURNE woman was just 15 when she was sexually assaulted twice by the same man.

Three decades on, the harrowing crime still haunts her, she can’t forget his pungent smell, and he is still roaming the streets.

On March 22, 1986, the teen was checking on her horse in a paddock near a caravan park on Ballarat Rd in Sunshine, Victoria about 4pm.

An unknown man, who was feeding a horse in another paddock, stalked the young woman and grabbed her from behind, pulled her to the ground and sexually assaulted her.

The woman fought him off and ran away, breaking through a barbed wire fence.

She had been dealing with that for four months, when she went to check on her horse on July 13 the same year.

The same man again attacked her, but this time threatened her with a knife and cut off her clothing before sexually assaulting her. She ran away again.

“I was very lucky to have that opportunity, I’d have a knife put through me otherwise,” the victim said at Victoria Police headquarters on Friday.

She said the attacks changed her life and she wanted to see her attacker do his time, just like she had for the past 30 years.

“It’s affected my family life and relationships right up to today,” she said.

“I’ve had various counselling but it doesn’t stop you from feeling what you do on the inside.”

She said while she stays strong and seeks protection from her family, she still thinks of the attacks.

She still can’t have anything around her throat, not even a bed sheet, as it reminds her of the knife that was held to it.

She can’t clearly see her attacker’s face in her mind anymore, but she can’t forget his pungent smell.

“The smell sticks with me more than anything to this day,” she said. “It was an aftershave called ‘Pino’ and he was wearing it when it happened.

“It’d be fantastic to see him charged and put in jail, I don’t think someone put in jail helps the victim because once it’s done you never forget it, but it’s the safe feeling he is doing his time too.”

Police have forensic evidence but so far no match, and are appealing for information.

“Because of the passage of time, someone out there will know this man who had an affiliation with horses in the area,” Sexual Crime Squad Detective Senior Constable Alan Jephcott said.

“We have a list of persons of interests and we want to continue to either confirm or eliminate those names.”

Constable Jephcott believes the attack was opportunistic because the paddock was a place the victim would regularly go.

“It’s a common theme with these investigations we are facing every day that these people have gone on to commit other offences, some worse,” he said.

“It’s something we need to stamp out, we need to find this person and we will find him.

“If he’s a right-minded person in this day and age he should come forward.”

Police hope somebody in the community will have more information about the man who assaulted the young girl.

He is described as 182cm with a solid build and aged about 25 at the time of the attacks making him in the mid-50s now.

He had short black hair, olive skin and a scar on the left side of his chin.

Police say he was clean shaven and possibly had gel in his hair and a thick gold identity bracelet on his left wrist.

The victim described him as either Italian or Greek.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential crime report at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au.