REMEMBER WHEN

Gold Coast Bulletin Tuesday December 16,1987

POLICE were hunting a fisherman who allegedly bound, gagged and raped a Gold Coast grandmother before stealing $45 from her unit.

The 64-year-old Chevron Island woman was recovering from her ordeal as police hoped for an early arrest.

She told police she met the man at the Quarterdeck Bar of the Chevron Paradise Hotel.

He went back to her unit after promising he could find work for her son.

But when they got back to the unit the man, aged between 35 and 45, bound her ankles with her cord belt. She told police he also gagged her with a blouse and raped her before fleeing on foot.

“She brought him back for a cup of tea after he stated he would arrange employment for her son,” Superintendent Don Teague said.

Supt Teague said a medical examination confirmed sexual intercourse took place.

After the man fled the woman struggled free and alerted neighbours with her screams.

Surfers Paradise CIB Detective Sergeant Des Sorensen said the woman was in a state of shock.

She was being cared for by family at Tweed Heads.

“She was not in a very good state and was unable to be interviewed properly,” he said.

But she told police the man, whose name she wrote down on a piece of paper when they met at the bar, had said he worked on a fishing boat.

She believed she took the paper back to the unit but police who fingerprinted and unsuccessfully searched the place feared the man had destroyed it.