HOBSONS BAY: Man charged with 1981, 1983, Newport sex assaults


Detectives from the Sexual Crime Squad have charged a man almost 44 years after an 82-year-old woman was allegedly sexually assaulted twice in her own Newport home in 1981 and 1983.

A 69-year-old Hoppers Crossing man was arrested in Wyndham Vale on Friday morning (Jan. 24).

He was interviewed by investigators and has subsequently been charged with two counts of attempted aggravated rape, aggravated burglary, aggravated indecent assault, rape, burglary and common assault.

The man was to appear at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court.

The charges follow an almost 44-year investigation into the two incidents which occurred at the same residential property in Newport between September 1981 and July 1983.

Police will allege 82-year-old Jessie Grace Lauder, who lived alone at her home in Mason St, was sexually assaulted on Tuesday, September 22, 1981 and again on Wednesday, July 6, 1983.