A tear-out of an article in The Age in regards to the assaults first printed on December 2, 1998.Credit score:The Age
Officers additionally investigated an tried abduction within the space on October 23, 1998, involving a person approaching two ladies strolling by way of the grounds of Upwey Secondary Faculty at night time for instructions and tried to power them right into a automotive at gunpoint.
In response to stories by The Age, one of many ladies was chased by the alleged attacker, who tried to tug her into the automotive. {The teenager} managed to interrupt free and run away.
On the time, investigators had been in search of a solidly constructed man aged in his 40s with quick, mild brown greying hair who drove a darkish blue sedan and maroon wagon with a mattress and curtains. He was sporting a hat on the time of the Belgrave and Clematis assaults.
Detectives on Wednesday mentioned they had been investigating any hyperlinks between the assaults and a lot of different incidents within the Dandenong Ranges between 1996 and 2000 by which a person allegedly approached younger girls in remoted areas, provided them a journey and threatened them with a weapon earlier than sexually assaulting them.
The incidents occurred across the Belgrave railway station, Wellington Highway in Clematis, Belgrave-Gembrook Highway in Belgrave, Selby, and Menzies Creek. The victims had been all aged between 15 and 22.
Investigators consider the person used completely different automobiles within the assaults, together with a maroon Toyota 4Runner four-wheel-drive.
Sexual Crime Squad Detective Inspector Juliann Goldrick mentioned the arrest was the results of an investigation into the incidents that spanned greater than 20 years.
“At the moment’s result’s a testomony to the persistence and dedication of Sexual Crime Squad detectives, each previous and current,” she mentioned.
“Regardless of the size of time, we’ll proceed to research these important offences and attempt to discover solutions for victims of sexual assault.”
Goldrick mentioned it was doable different girls had been assaulted in related circumstances and never reported the assault to the police. “I ask you to think about coming ahead and telling us your story,” she mentioned.
Police want to communicate to anybody who hitchhiked within the Dandenong Ranges between 1996 and 2000, together with those that did so with out incident, as they may have data that might present investigators with lacking “items of the puzzle”.
This contains girls who might have been approached by a person in a car within the Dandenong Ranges space and provided a journey or enticed to get right into a car, or anybody who accepted a journey and was threatened with a weapon or sexually assaulted.
Anybody with data is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential crime report at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au.
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