Abdulfatah Awow faces ‘extraordinarily serious’ allegations for posing as a health official for sex
A Melbourne man is facing ‘extraordinarily serious’ allegations he posed as a health worker and threatened a woman if she didn’t perform sex acts.
A Melbourne man is accused of “extraordinarily serious” crimes which include threatening a woman if she didn’t perform sex acts and pretending to be a Covid health worker.
Abdulfatah Awow has been charged with sexual penetration by threat, attempting to procure a sexual act by fraud, stalking, impersonating an authorised officer and possessing identification information.
All the charges relate to one victim at a Burwood property on July 14.
Police will allege that Awow pretended to be an authorised officer for the Victorian Department of Health and threatened the woman unless she performed sex acts.
“The allegations are extraordinarily serious in the current environment,” magistrate David Starvaggi said.
The 25-year-old man appeared in the Ringwood Magistrates Court via video link on Thursday where a prosecutor said an additional charge of aggravated burglary while a person present had been laid.
The Carlton man was expected to apply for bail but his barrister Theo Alexander said he would not go ahead with the application because of the latest charge.
Court documents allege that Awow went to a woman’s home and also telephoned her with the “intention of causing physical or mental harm to her and arousing fear for her own safety”.
Mr Awow is also charged with committing an indictable offence of stalking while on bail, the court documents state.
Victoria’s Covid-19 Commander Jeroen Weimar has previously said that authorised officers – who are employed by the government to undertake enforcement – would always be in uniform, have appropriate identification and never seek entry into a person’s home.
“Please, if you are being visited as part of the home visit program, by one of the authorised offers, ask for ID, check their uniform and if they ask to get into your home, shut the door,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
The alleged stalker is expected to face court again on Friday for a filing hearing in relation to the aggravated burglary charge.