A convicted child porn pervert has been granted bail to live outside the Illawarra while he awaits a hearing for allegedly intimidating a teenager at a Figtree fast food restaurant.
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Simon Wilhelm spent the past five months behind bars for breaching his reporting obligations for the state's Child Protection Register, which he has been on since moving from Western Australia to New South Wales in 2016 after being convicted for having copies of child pornography in 2012.
Earlier this year, Wilhelm, aged 50, failed to tell police he had changed address and was no longer living at his Mount Kembla home.
Police made several unsuccessful attempts to locate him in the following months and eventually a warrant was issued for his arrest.
Wilhelm was on the run for three months and following a public social media appeal was located living in a basement below the Crazy Noodle Shop on Crown Street.
He was sentenced to nine months jail in May for failing to comply with his reporting obligations and became eligible for parole in October.
On Tuesday, Wilhelm fronted Wollongong Local Court via audiovisual link from prison to seek release on bail for an intimidation charge.
In facts tendered to court, police allege Wilhelm started regularly going to Domino's Figtree in July 2019 where he spoke to a teen employee, telling her "your name is beautiful."
It is alleged Wilhelm started frequenting the restaurant up to four times a week and would often talk to the same girl and would ask for a menu but would not order anything.
Wilhelm allegedly asked the girl whether she was wearing makeup, when she replied "yes" he told her "you shouldn't, you're beautiful".
The girl said she was "creeped out" by the interactions and often felt uncomfortable, scared and intimidated by Wilhelm's actions, police will allege.
In court during the bail application, Wilhelm told Magistrate Claire Girotto that "all my problems stem from being in Wollongong as I have no support network".
He told Magistrate Girotto that there had been an "absolute witch hunt" against him since he arrived in the Illawarra and he had struggled to find accommodation in Wollongong.
"I have lost virtually all of my friends," he said. "My family is terrified and there has been media and social media coverage of me."
Wilhelm was released on strict conditional bail which requires him to live at a boarding house in Lismore, report to police daily, only leave his residence for two hours during the day, not contact anyone under 18-year-old and he is prohibited from using the internet or a mobile phone.
Wilhelm said he hoped to find permanent accommodation closer to his family in Tweed Heads.
"If I get back to family then the court will never hear from me again," he said.
The hearing for the intimidation charge has been set down for May 5 at Wollongong Local Court.
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