Pervert left teen ‘terrified’

A SERIAL pervert followed a 13-year-old around Australia Fair, tried to get her into his car and hugged her without permission, a court was told.

Nick-Tim Coram, 29, even waited outside the toilets where the girl had tried to hide from him on September 17 last year.

The Southport District Court was told Coram had earlier approached the girl for a lighter and when she provided matches started to follow her.

The warehouse worker yesterday pleaded guilty to multiple charges including common assault, found in yard without lawful excuse and assault occasioning bodily harm.

It is the third time he has been convicted of sexual offences against teenage girls.

Judge Bernard Porter sentenced Coram for two years in prison with immediate parole release. Coram has already spent nine and a half months in custody.

Despite releasing Coram, Judge Porter said his behaviour was “concerning”, especially as he had been previously convicted of similar offences.

“This also involves what might be termed the pestering of women both young and old for no reason,” he said.

Judge Porter detailed how Coram terrified the young girl when he followed her and then waited for her outside the women’s toilets.

“When she left the bathroom you were still here,” Judge Porter said. “When she walked passed you she felt panicked and couldn’t breathe.”

She kept walking and only stopped when she reached a cafe. Coram grabbed her into a tight hug and offered her a lift in her car.

The girl told him she had to go and he finally left her.

She returned to the shopping centre and reported the matter to police.

“Although this was not a serious form of common assault, it becomes much more serious when it becomes sustained,” Judge Porter said.

“The predation on a younger female becomes particularly concerning.”

Days after the Southport assault, on September 23, Coram was found in the Parkwood backyard of six female university students. When confronted, Coram fled.

On October 3, Coram also attacked his partner who was sleeping on their couch.

He grabbed her by the ankles, tossed her on to a coffee table and covered her nose and mouth.

“The domestic violence offence was aggressive and involved the act seemingly common of men stopping women’s breathing,” Judge Porter said.

“Putting a hand over her nose and mouth was intended to exert control in some way.”

Judge Porter urged Coram to get help or risk reoffending and spending long periods of time in prison.

“It seems to me that you have a significant need for psychological or psychiatric treatment,” he said.

The court was told Coram was convicted in 2011 for exposing himself to a girl in school uniform and years later he was convicted of looking up another girl’s skirt in a shopping centre.