Warrnambool man convicted of stalking teens on Gateway Plaza bus

The victim impact statements of a 13-year-old girl and her two 14-year-old friends were heard during a plea hearing in Warrnambool Magistrates Court.

Warrnambool's Ian Cooper, 34, pleaded guilty to stalking offences and was sentenced to 10 months' jail, to be followed by a two-year corrections order.

He will be classed as a registered sex offender for eight years.

In September last year the three victims boarded a bus at the Lava Street bus stop near Centrelink heading to Gateway Plaza about 2pm.

The teen girls noticed the man as he tried to engage with other young people on the bus including teenage girls.

The man allegedly told one girl to take off her face mask as she was beautiful and shouldn't hide it.

The three teens tried not to make eye contact with the man.

They got off the bus at Gateway Plaza and noticed the man about 10 metres behind following them.

The girls went into Kmart.

They went to the toy section, activewear and then the registers as the man allegedly followed them for about 30 minutes.

One of the girls called a friend who worked at Kmart and the man remained in the vicinity even when the girls met the Kmart worker.

The teens went to the food court area at Gateway Plaza, lost the man but when the girls got back on the bus the man reappeared.

He tried to strike up conversations with the girls and allegedly stared at the breasts and crotch of one girl, making her feel extremely uncomfortable.

The man allegedly slapped one girl on the knee and touched another on the leg, instilling sheer terror in the victims.

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The girls got off the bus at Lava Street and went to the McDonald's central restaurant.

The man walked into the restaurant minutes later and the girls left, hiding in the Target undercover car park.

They informed their parents what had been happening and reported to police the man had been following them for two hours.

On Friday, one victim said she no long enjoyed taking the bus and felt nervous leaving the house in case the man found her.

The second victim said she had trouble sleeping following the incident and she constantly felt like the man was staring at her.

She said older men now made her cautious and she had created an escape plan in case she ran into Cooper in the street again.

"I just want to hang out with my friends without being anxious of buses and people staring at me like he did," she said.

"I haven't gone on a bus since what happened."

The third victim said the offending made her feel "extremely vulnerable and anxious".

"Even from the start when he was talking and trying to start conversations, I felt very uncomfortable," she said in her victim impact statement.

"The longer he followed us the more trapped and vulnerable I felt. I didn't know what was going to happen, I didn't know what he was going to do or what he was capable of."

The victim said she felt traumatised and now had a lot of anxiety around men she didn't know.

The man also pleaded guilty to similar offences relating to a victim at Warrnambool clothing store Jeans West.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Angela Fitzgerald said the man was found unsuitable for a corrections order and required supervision available through parole.

She said the man had significant prior convictions, although this was the first time there had been an "obvious sexual component to his offending".

"This shows an exacerbation of offending and has had a significant impact on these young, vulnerable children," Sergeant Fitzgerald.

In sentencing, magistrate Franz Holzer said that at some point Cooper had to be released from custody and he must consider what best served the community's interests and safety.

He accepted that if the man was not granted parole, he would serve his entire sentence in prison and would be released from custody without any supports.

Mr Holzer said he placed the man on a correction order with "some considerable hesitation".

Under the corrections order, Cooper will be required to undergo treatment for drug and alcohol abuse and mental health, and will be under the supervision of the Office of Corrections.

Cooper has already served eight months in custody on remand.

He is expected to be released in August.

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