A Kanahooka man has confessed to raping a family friend's teenage daughter while she stayed with him for Year 10 work experience.
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Brett Brunker, 53, pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated child sexual assault and aggravated indecent assault in Wollongong Local Court last week but will remain free on bail ahead of his sentencing later this year.
A set of agreed facts tendered to the court reveal Brunker had agreed to host the 15-year-old girl at his home in Bellambi for a week in 1997 while she did work experience at the Corrimal nursery he worked at.
It was arranged the teen would sleep in Brunker's single bed and he would sleep on the lounge for the duration of the stay.
The girl told police she was lying on her side facing the wall on the first night when Brunker came into the room and got into bed beside her.
She said she felt him breathing on her neck and could smell beer on his breath.
Brunker removed the girl's pants and underwear, put her hand on his erect penis and tried to move her hand up and down.
The girl said she shifted away and removed her hand from Brunker's penis, however he then raped her.
The girl said she felt a burning pain but was stuck between him and the wall and couldn't move.
She said she tried to scream but "no noise came out".
He left the room once he'd finished, the court heard.
The following morning Brunker acted as if nothing had happened and there were no further incidents for the remainder of the teen's stay.
She told police she didn't tell her parents about the assault until nearly 10 years later and and only made a report to police in 2019.
Detectives launched an investigation, culminating in the victim, now in her 30s, speaking to Brunker in April in a secretly recorded telephone conversation.
Brunker apologised for what he'd done and made partial admissions to taking the victim's hand and putting it on his penis.
He was arrested at his home in Kanahooka on April 22.
When interviewed by police, Brunker admitted trying to have sex with the girl but said he didn't believe he had penetrated her vagina. He also said he thought she was only 10 or 11 at the time, not 15.
Brunker was remanded in custody after his arrest but released on court bail four days later after Magistrate Mark Douglass accepted Brunker had no idea where the victim or her family were currently living.
"He's had ample time to commit further offences and hasn't - there's nothing in the facts to suggest the victim is at any further risk if he's released," he said.
The bail conditions ban Brunker from having contact with anyone under the age of 28 unless supervised by an adult over the age of 30.
He will face Wollongong District Court in October at which time a date will be set for his sentencing.