A 21-year-old man will appear before a court on Saturday after he allegedly punched and sexually assaulted a woman in a south-west Sydney park, before fleeing the area and changing his clothes.
The man was arrested on Friday after an extensive police investigation into the violent attack, which took place earlier this month in Lighthorse Park, Liverpool.
The incident occurred shortly before midnight on Sunday November 11, when a 51-year-old woman was walking along a track through the park and saw a man nearby watching her.
Police allege that as the woman was walking, the man came towards her and punched her in the face several times, before he sexually assaulted her.
The woman screamed out, alerting bystanders who chased the man up a set of stairs onto Newbridge Road.
A man has been charged over the alleged sexual assault of a woman in Liverpool on November 11. Credit:NSW Police
The chase continued to nearby Terminus and George Streets, where the pursuers lost sight of the man.
The woman was taken to Liverpool Hospital with facial injuries including lacerations, bruising, and damage to her teeth.
"The attack itself was cowardly," Detective Inspector Dean Johnstone told reporters in Liverpool last week, describing the area where the attack took place as "secluded".
Police have previously released CCTV footage of the man running from the area, along Terminus Street, before he later returned, having changed into a light coloured shirt and shorts.
The man then walked calmly from the scene with a plastic bag.
On Friday officers from Liverpool City police area command arrested the 21-year-old man at an address in Warwick Farm, taking him to the police station where he was charged with aggravated sexual assault inflicting actual bodily harm.
He was refused bail and is scheduled to appear at Parramatta Local Court on Saturday.
Lucy Cormack is a crime reporter with The Sydney Morning Herald.
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