28 January,2011 12:50 PM IST | | Agencies
An 85-year-old woman was sexually assaulted at one of Melbourne's busiest train stations in broad daylight.
Sergeant Doug Smith, of the sexual crime squad, said a man aged about 60 confronted the woman as she was going to a toilet about 1 pm on Thursday at the Southern Cross Railway Station, in central Melbourne.
"She was confronted by a man outside the disabled toilets who then dragged her into the disabled toilet and at this time he severely assaulted her by bashing her, punching her to the face and head area and then he sexually assaulted her," News.com.au quoted him as saying.
While the man made an initial demand for cash, he fled the scene empty-handed after 10 minutes, he said.
Smith said the victim remains in hospital 'black and blue' with bruises and had a fracture to the face.
"It's a very audacious attack. It happened in the middle of the day, it happened when there were many, many people in the area going to and from the toilets," he said.
He said police were confident of making an arrest and they had clear images of the man from CCTV footage.
Police describe him as aged about 60, with white short hair, about 185 cm tall. He was wearing a dark polo shirt; light coloured shorts and possibly glasses.
