Police arrested a man at Riverwood today relating to sexual assaults of five young girls more than 20 years ago.
DNA evidence led detectives to a unit and the alleged offender, 44, was arrested in the street.
The sexual assaults happened between August 1989 and September 1991.
Police will allege the first incident happened on August 20, 1989, when a girl, 9, was grabbed from behind by an unknown man as she walked along a Bankstown street.
She was taken to a nearby derelict property and sexually assaulted.
On January, 6, 1990, a girl, 12, was abducted from a bike track by an unknown man at South Strathfield.
She was taken to nearby bushland where the man threatened her with a knife and sexually assaulted her.
On March 19, 1990, a girl, 10, was grabbed by an unknown male in a Bankstown street.
She was taken to a vacant property nearby and sexually assaulted.
On August 20, 1990, a girl, 10, was abducted by a man in a Punchbowl lane.
She was forced into a stormwater drain and man sexually assaulted her.
The fifth attack happened on September 16, 1991.
A girl, 17, was walking along an Artarmon bush track when she was grabbed by a man who claimed to have a knife.
The man forced her to the ground and sexually assaulted her.
All cases were investigated thoroughly but no one was charged because of forensic and investigative limitations at the time.
In 2011, the NSW Police Force’s cold case justice project was able to identify a clear DNA link between the five sexual assaults.
The case was referred to the Sex Crimes Squad and Strike Force Woolwich was formed to investigate.
The man was taken to Campsie police station and was charged with five counts of kidnapping, four counts of sexual assault, one count of aggravated sexual assault, two counts of attempted aggravated sexual assault, two counts of indecent assault, two counts of attempting to have sexual intercourse with a child, and three counts of sexual intercourse with a child.
He was refused bail and will appear in Burwood Court tomorrow.
