A 31-year-old man has been charged with assault and intimidation after a social media post detailing two incidents of alleged harassment in Wollongong went viral on Friday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Cassie Bryan took to Facebook to warn other women about a man after she was approached at Port Kembla Beach during her morning walk, about 7am.
"He said, 'you're cute. I'm down to have some fun'," Ms Bryan said.
"I told him I wasn't interested and that I was seeing someone and he said 'that doesn't matter'."
Ms Bryan said she repeatedly told the man she was not interested in him but he kept talking to her and allegedly insisted she enter his number into her phone.
"He was pressuring me. I felt vulnerable," she said. "He watched as I put it in."
Ms Bryan claims the man then forced her to hug him.
She claimed her cousin had been harassed at Wollongong station by the same man at 12.30pm on Thursday.
"He wouldn't let her get on the train until she gave him his number," Ms Bryan said. "Then he started texting her creepy shit."
The Facebook post on the UOW Students Buy and Sell page attracted hundreds of comments from other women.
Ms Bryan said she contacted Lake Illawarra police on Thursday to report the incident but no details were taken.
She went to the police station on Friday night and made a formal report.
Lake Illawarra police said they became aware of the post on Friday, and that the two matters were reported to police at 8 o'clock that night.
A man was then arrested at a home on Dovers Drive, Port Kembla at 12.30am on Saturday, police said.
He was released on strict conditional bail to appear at Port Kembla Local Court on October 9.
In a media statement, police issued a "reminder" for people to contact them or Crime Stoppers directly when reporting crime.