The 36-year-old defendant appeared in the Dunedin District Court this afternoon charged with the burglary of a Cosy Dell Rd flat, three counts of violating a young woman and one of strangulation.
Judge Deidre Orchard continued interim name suppression to protect the man’s fair-trial rights.
No application for bail was made nor pleas entered and the defendant will appear in court again next month.
A source told the Otago Daily Times the complainant woke in the early hours of February 4 to a masked man in her bedroom with his hand over her mouth.
The alleged sex attack took place over a protracted period and the defendant allegedly made the woman wash her hands before he left.
It is also understood the defendant took bed sheets with him when he made his escape.
Residents of Cosy Dell Rd previously told the ODT news of the incident had spread rapidly and had put them on edge.
The street has gained something of a reputation in recent years and many of the flats there are equipped with CCTV and security lights.
Last year, a 21-year-old student dubbed “The Cosy Dell Creeper” was caught on camera tiptoeing around one flat’s laundry and later pleaded guilty to three burglaries and a charge of unlawfully being in an enclosed yard.
In December, the underwear thief won a High Court appeal which meant his convictions were wiped and his name was permanently suppressed.
