A Maori man is behind bars accused of raping a young female stranger while she was on her early morning walk in Brisbane’s west in a horrific random attack.
Jacob Dave Henry Hauraki, 32, was charged with six counts of rape, stalking, assault with intent to commit rape, assault occasioning bodily harm and deprivation of liberty over the horrific alleged attack on Brookfield on Thursday morning.
Hauraki’s case was heard in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Friday where he did not appear or apply for bail, and the matter was adjourned until September 19, the Brisbane Times reported.
Queensland Police allege the 23-year-old woman was walking along Brookfield Road at 6.33am when Hauraki approached her from behind, dragged her into nearby bushes and sexually assaulted her.
The woman managed to break free and crossed a creek to escape the area, and made her way through bushland to the Brookfield Showgrounds Oval where she called a family member and Triple-Zero.
Hauraki went to work about 15 minutes away after the alleged attack, but drove past the scene that evening where police recognised his vehicle and arrested him on Moons Lane.
Detective Superintendent Andrew Massingham said the arrest had been made thanks to dashcam footage provided by members of the public.
“We will then allege that when he completed work that day, he drove back past the crime scene,” he said.
“We are fairly familiar with offenders sometimes returning to the scene for different reasons. Officers identified the vehicle as being similar. They followed the vehicle, and he was actually intercepted.”
Det Supt Massingham described the alleged attack as “a horrific and confronting incident that no one should ever experience”, and said the woman had been treated for injuries in hospital but was now with family.
Local residents said they were furious and shaken up after hearing about the alleged attack.
“The fact that it’s a woman just going about her life doing her ordinary routine, and this happens is truly horrifying,” one woman told 9News.
“I said to my wife this morning, ‘I feel as though someone has entered our village and offended it’,” Greg Wallace, who has lived in the area for 35 years, told The Courier Mail.
“And for us not being able to protect our own, walking the streets … not to be able to have a safe environment – it’s really made me angry.”
Header image: Left, Jacob Dave Henry Hauraki (9News). Right, Hauraki being arrested (supplied).
