Police will allege a man pooed in the backyard of a house at Tullimbar on four separate occasions as part of a sinister stalking plot involving a primary school student with whom he'd become obsessed.
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Maxwell John Cook, 33, met the young girl while he was working as a groundskeeper at Tullimbar Public School and quickly became infatuated with her.
His "particular and disturbing interest" in the girl resulted in him being charged with unlawful entry on enclosed lands in 2017 after he gained access to the girl's classroom after school and left a red rose, card and balloons on her desk to wish her happy birthday.
Police will allege despite being criminally reprimanded for his actions at the time, Cook maintained his infatuation with the child and even expanded it more recently to include her friends and teachers.
Documents tendered to Wollongong Local Court on Wednesday said human faeces had been found in the backyard of a Tullimbar property, where one of the girl's friends lived, on at least four occasions between September 2019 and February 2020.
Her parents subsequently installed CCTV cameras.
The father told police he noticed a man in the backyard just before 8.30pm last Saturday.
Police cited the case of Sampieri: he had a history of harassing adult females and left unchecked, he concluded with an extremely horrific and violent sexual offence against a child.
The figure ran off when the father went to investigate. He rang police to report the incident and gave them a detailed description of what the intruder was wearing.
Officers patrolled the area a short time later and discovered Cook walking down the next street. They said he appeared sweaty, out of breath and had the same clothing as described by the father in the triple zero call.
Cook initially denied committing any offence however later made "full and frank" admissions to jumping a side gate to gain entry to the property and defecate in the backyard.
When questioned by police, Cook said he exercised at Tullimbar most evenings, despite living 14km away in Dapto, and chose that particular house because "it appeared dark and looked like an ideal location to defecate" when he was out jogging and needed to relieve himself.
He was advised of the link between the house and the girl with whom he was infatuated, but allegedly dismissed it as simply a "coincidence".
However, police allegedly discovered a picture of the young girl as a screen saver on Cook's phone and uncovered a fake Instagram account which he had allegedly used to try and track down the girl and her relatives.
"I have a fascination with her, I wish I didn't," he said.
Cook was arrested and charged with four counts of entering enclosed lands and three counts of intimidation.
He was granted conditional bail at the time.
However, detectives re-arrested Cook on Tuesday evening after allegedly matching his fingerprints to those lifted from a break-in at the home of one of the school's teachers in 2018.
Cook denied the break-in allegations and told police it was "impossible" they could have found his fingerprints at the scene.
In a detailed set of police facts tendered to the court, detectives expressed serious concerns for the safety of Cook's alleged victims, labeling his alleged crimes "chilling" and even referencing the recent case of Kogarah dance studio rapist Anthony Sampieri in asking asking the court to refuse Cook bail.
"Detectives strongly believe the accused is engaging in voyeuristic behaviour and defecating in the location may be as a result of sexual excitement," they wrote.
"Police cited the case of Sampieri: he had a history of harassing adult females and left unchecked, he concluded with an extremely horrific and violent sexual offence against a child.
"Police are concerned the offences committed thus far will escalate to more physical and potentially violent [offences]."
Cook's lawyer, Graeme Morrison, noted his client had been given police bail on the intimidation charges and suggested he wouldn't necessarily be facing a full-time jail sentence if convicted.
He also accused police of a degree of hysteria.
"The police are going berserk in relation to this matter," he said.
"You can't just lock people up on the say-so of police that something might happen."
However, Magistrate Jillian Kiely refused Cook's bail application, saying there were no conditions she could impose that would mitigate the risk he posed to the public.
"[It's alleged] there's a disturbing pattern of behaviour being exhibited by this man towards two children and a teacher over a period of time," she said.
Cook's case will return to court on March 11.
