Police have charged a 41-year-old man over the alleged sexual assault of an elderly woman in Merrylands on Tuesday, following a four-day manhunt.
The man allegedly offered to help carry the 83-year-old’s shopping home before assaulting her in Sydney’s west.
Following a public appeal, police made an arrest at a unit on Harris Street in Fairfield just after midday on Friday.
A 41-year-old man was arrested in Fairfield over the alleged sexual assault.Credit: NSW Police
The man was taken to Fairfield Police Station, where he was later charged with sexual intercourse without consent and common assault.
Detectives allege the man met the elderly woman near Charles Mance Reserve in Merrylands about 12.30pm on Tuesday. The man, who was not known to the woman, reportedly offered to carry her shopping trolley home, police said.
When the pair arrived at the woman’s home, the man allegedly sexually assaulted the woman in what sex crimes squad commander Detective Acting Superintendent Rachel Fawcett described on Wednesday as “abhorrent behaviour”.
Police arrest the man in Fairfield on Friday.Credit: NSW Police
“At that location, in a place she should feel safe, she was sexually assaulted,” Fawcett told reporters on Wednesday afternoon.
“The man has approached her, has gained her trust, and then he has broken that trust by breaking into her home and assaulting her,” Fawcett alleged.
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