Melbourne’s creepy commuter fled when he was confronted after inappropriately touching a young girl
A CREEPY commuter accused of putting his hand up the skirt of a 14-year-old schoolgirl could face jail when he is sentenced in October.
A MELBOURNE tram commuter has been found guilty of putting his hand up the skirt of a 14-year-old schoolgirl.
Marshall Jordan, 31, faced court this week accused of touching the schoolgirl on the packed city-bound 86 tram about 8.30am Northcote in May last year.
When the girl screamed at him, “How dare you, you bloody b*****d,” he replied calmly, “I didn’t do anything, before turning to the girl’s friend, saying: “Did I touch you?”, police allege. A commuter who heard the commotion and screams alerted the tram driver, who stopped the tram, and when a group of schoolgirls alighted and pointed the man out, he fled, the Melbourne Magistrates Court heard Thursday.
Court documents allege Jordan initially made room for the girl to stand near him and kept leaning over to see what she and her friends were doing on their phones.
He is then accused of brushing his hand against the girl’s thigh three times before resting his hand there about 10 seconds.
He then allegedly put his hand up her skirt from behind, touching her on the vagina and bottom.
Tram passenger Nichola Krey said she heard screaming and saw a group of girls getting off the tram, with one pointing at a man, saying “He touched me,” she told the court.
“I could see he was shaking. I saw him running off,” Ms Krey said.
The girl had collapsed on the ground, clutching her skirt, “clearly distressed and traumatised”.
“She was visibly shaking. I think she was starting to go into shock.”
Ms Krey said the man held up his arms in a placating fashion, saying: “it’s okay, it’s all right”.
“It looked like he was trying to calm somebody down,” she said. Ms Krey got off the tram to help the girl, and told another man to chase the alleged offender.
Another tram passenger, Charmaine Harris, got off the tram following the incident, along with the tram driver, school girls and the alleged offender.
“The girls were pointing at him saying ‘he’s the one, he’s the one that did it.’” She said the tram driver called out to the man twice but he ran off.
Marshall, of Reservoir, who is charged with an indecent act with a child under 16, denied the allegations to police, saying “It’s disgusting, it’s nothing I would ever do. It wasn’t me.”
Magistrate Jonathan Klestadt said it was serious offending and he would consider jailing Jordan when he hands down sentence in October.