A West Wollongong man has sensationally confessed to sexually and indecently assaulting six women in the Illawarra, eight months after swearing to a court that he was innocent.
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Kane Kelly was arrested in September last year accused of masturbating in front of five women in a spate of lewd acts committed around the Wollongong CBD and university precinct in 2012, then violently raping a woman in isolated sand dunes at Fairy Meadow Beach two years later.
Kelly denied both charges when interviewed by police, even claiming DNA recovered from the rape victim and subsequently matched to him was a "mistake".
He sobbed wildly during his initial court appearance, claiming he was innocent of the charges against him and police had made a grave mistake in arresting him.
In contrast, Kelly was stone-faced and showed no emotion in Wollongong Local Court on Wednesday as his lawyer entered pleas of guilty on his behalf to eight indecent and sexual assault offences, including three counts of rape.
A set of agreed facts tendered to the court revealed the 30-year-old's 2012 crimes involved him exposing his genitals to a 21-year-old jogger in Kenny Street on February 1, masturbating in front of a woman walking on Ellen Street on February 5, then fondling his penis in front of three women walking near UOW at different times on March 1.
The last victim alerted a uni security guard and Kelly was arrested 10 minutes later.
He declined to be interviewed by police and was released without charge after three of the victims failed to identify him in a digital police lineup.
Meanwhile, Kelly's most serious offence occurred two years later in the early hours of New Year's Day 2014, when he subjected a 21-year-old woman to a 30-minute long sexual attack under the cover of darkness.
The woman told police she had been at a friend's New Year's Eve party and was walking along the beach just after 2.30am intending to meet up with a friend when Kelly approached her from behind.
She said he grabbed her around the neck and pressed his forearm against her throat so she struggled to breath, prompting her to beg "don't kill me" and asking what he wanted.
She said Kelly initially replied "I just want sex" before pulling her into bushland and demanding she take her pants off.
Kelly then repeatedly raped the woman, at one stage ordering her to move over a wire fence and further into the sand dunes before continuing to assault her.
The woman begged Kelly not to kill her throughout the ordeal.
She eventually saw a group of men nearby in the sand dunes and called for help, prompting Kelly to flee, minus his t-shirt, which was later seized and analysed by police.
Meanwhile, the group of men stayed with the victim until police arrived.
Court documents reveal police were subsequently able to match DNA taken from the rape with DNA obtained from one of acts of masturbation.
Both were then matched to Kelly in July 2019 after police covertly gathered his DNA from items he'd handled, then discarded, in a public place.
Officers arrested Kelly at his home on September 25.
He was refused bail in court a few days later and has been behind bars ever since.
He will face Wollongong District Court on May 29 for a sentencing date to be fixed.