A man suspected of being the infamous ‘Moore Park rapist’ – who terrorised Sydney by sexually assaulting at least 10 women at knife-point between 1991 and 1993 – has been arrested.
The city’s exclusive Eastern Suburbs were plagued in the early 90s by a man dubbed the ‘Night Stalker’ who would approach women around railway stations asking if they were interested in modelling or cleaning work before taking them to a secluded area and raping them at knife point.
At least six of his victims were Asian women.
Despite a massive public appeal for information and the establishment of a specialist police task force, the culprit was never caught.
But in a major breakthrough on Friday, NSW Police announced a 60-year-old man suspected of being the ‘Night Stalker’ had been arrested at Sydney International Airport.
A man suspected of being the infamous ‘Moore Park rapist’ – who terrorised Sydney by sexually assaulting at least 10 women between 1991 and 1993 – has been arrested at the city’s airport (pictured: the view from Moore Park over Sydney’s CBD)
In a statement, NSW Police said the man has been charged with 33 offences against eight of the 10 victims.
Those charges include 16 counts of aggravated sexual assault.
The man, who would have been in his early thirties at the time of the offenes, will face Downing Centre Local Court today.
‘Between 1991 and 1993, at least 10 women were allegedly sexually assaulted in the Moore Park and Inner West areas of Sydney, causing media to dub the offender as the “Moore Park Rapist” or “Night Stalker”,’ a spokesperson for NSW police said.
However, no one was ever convicted and for years the alleged crimes remained a mystery.
But the Sex Crime Squad used modern DNA and fingerprint technologies to re-examine the case.
This led to the arrest of the 60-year-old man at Sydney International Airport on Friday.
‘The man was taken to Mascot Police Station, where he was charged with 33 offences against eight of the 10 victims, including 16 counts of aggravated sexual assault, eight counts of indecent assault, three counts of assault causing actual bodily harm, two counts of detain for advantage, two counts of robbery with offensive weapon, and two counts of attempted sexual assault,’ the spokesperson added.
A newspaper article in May 1993 reported that the offender allegedly sexually assaulted at least nine women at knifepoint in the last year.
‘In each of the nine attacks, the man approached women around railway stations – at night and in the early hours of the morning – and offered them cleaning or modelling work,’ the article in the Sydney Morning Herald wrote.
‘He then lured them to a nearby secluded area – six of the attacks occurred at Moore Park – and sexually assaulted them at knifepoint. Six of the women were Asian.’
Police released a sketch of the rapist and described his appearance as being 173 to 180 centimetres tall, clean-shaven with a tan complexion short dark brown hair and a medium to athletic build.
