By Daniel Emerson
A man, mistakenly accused of being a sex predator after CCTV footage of him was shown on television, has been released from custody after police realised he was not the culprit.
- Accused man not sex predator
- Footage shown on television news bulletins
- Police renew appeal for information
But the mistake has prompted the Australian Council for Civil Liberties to call for CCTV footage of suspected offenders to be broadcast only if police are granted a court order to do so.
The council's national president, Terry O'Gorman, said the police tactic, widely used around Australia, was a concern for two reasons.
"Firstly, often identification is a real issue in a case as the broadcasting of CCTV or other pictures often interferes with the integrity of a court case," he said.
"Secondly, it's a huge invasion of privacy and it's a procedure which we think should be kept under control. Clearly here the standard of policing has been unacceptably low. If the police can't get their act together and they are making that kind of mistake, the protection of the courts is needed."
In the latest twist in the hunt for the "buck-tooth" sex predator stalking teenaged girls in Sydney's west, police last night hurriedly applied to the Supreme Court to release the man, who has been held in custody since Sunday.
One of the sex offender's teenaged victims reported seeing her attacker in Woodcroft on July 25 and, soon afterwards, police released CCTV footage from Blacktown train station of the man wanted for the crimes.
It was this footage, shown on television news bulletins over the weekend, that prompted the released man to go to Mount Druitt Police Station on Sunday, police say.
On Sunday detectives from Strike Force Luxford, set up to catch the sex-predator, were thanking the public and the media "for their assistance during the investigation" after they arrested a 23-year-old Minchinbury man.
The man appeared in Parramatta Bail Court on Sunday charged with 11 offences related to attacks on six teenaged girls between April and June.
He was refused bail at that appearance but the case against him was turned on its head about 6pm yesterday when police received the results of forensic tests.
He was released late last night after the Supreme Court action and police say another application will be made to the court in the next few days for all charges against him to be dropped.
He was arrested just days after what appeared to be the biggest break in the case.
The man was arrested before being questioned by child protection and sex crimes squad detectives.
Child sex crime squad commander John Kerlatec defended police actions, saying police had little option but to arrest the man given the circumstances.
He said the man was identified by one of the victims, gave police information during an interview which they believed to be untrue and items similar to those described by victims were found during a search of his house.
Detective Inspector Kerlatec said he did not believe the mistake would make other innocent people pictured in police footage think twice about going to police to rule themselves out as suspects.
"I think we need to look at this case on an individual basis," he said.
"I think you would actually agree with me that the person appeared to be the offender. As soon as we became aware he wasn't, we rang him at the remand facility and rang his parents. We also sent out two investigators to be with him during the [court] application process.
"I think we now need to move on with the investigation."
Detective Inspector Kerlatec said the late night court session before a Supreme Court judge to have the man freed was so rare he had never encountered it before.
Police are now renewing their appeal for public information so the real sex predator can be caught.
The man has been generally described to police as being of Asian appearance, aged between 18 and 21, with two prominent top front teeth.
Six teenage girls encountered the attacker between April 18 and June 12.
Three of the girls were assaulted and the others escaped unharmed.
Three of the victims were 16, two were 17 and one was 19.
Four of the incidents happened at bus shelters.