Magistrate Kieran Gilligan ruled on Monday that Garry Cook,71,would be allowed to leave custody because his advanced age and lack of other serious offending meant he did not pose a safety risk.
A father accused of kidnapping two 15-year-old girls and raping them in remote locations in the 1990s has been freed on bail because of his family's ongoing support.
Cook will stay at his sister’s home in Pakenham until his next court appearance in November but will be barred from visiting his young children until investigating child protection officers determine he doesn’t pose a risk to them.
The court heard Cook,who fathered eight children with different women,had previously been violent with his wife,with whom he lives in Drouin and has two children,aged six and one.
In 2013,Cook allegedly grabbed his wife by the throat,restrained her arm to prevent her from leaving and tried to knock down the door of a room where she was hiding,the court was told.
The prosecution’s case hinges on DNA samples collected from both girls in 1998 that preliminarily matched a swab taken from Cook in July.
Officers search bushland in the Dandenong Ranges area in 1998 as part of Operation Collier.Nine News
Cook’s lawyers plan to challenge the accuracy of the samples and could argue that DNA collection was still in its infancy in 1998 and the swabs could have been subject to cross-contamination.
Police allege that on September 24,1998,Cook picked up a teenage girl who was hitch-hiking along Belgrave-Gembrook Road in Clematis in a dark blue sedan.
After the girl felt uneasy and attempted to get out of the vehicle,Cook allegedly grabbed her by the hair,pulled her head down to his lap and drove her to a track off Wellington Road.
There,police say,he put a handgun to the girl’s temple and told her to remove her clothing. It’s alleged he then forced her to perform oral sex before raping her.
Forty minutes later,the woman was dropped off at a side street in Emerald.
Less than three months later,on December 1,Cook is alleged to have picked up another teenage girl walking to a bus stop in Belgrave South in a maroon Toyota all-wheel-drive.
Police claim Cook pulled out a knife and gun and sexually assaulted the girl in the back of the car on a dirt road. He then dropped her off near Belgrave station.
Both girls memorised the number plates of the vehicles they were abducted in,but police found the plates were stolen and could not be matched to cars fitting the victim’s descriptions.
The prosecution alleges Cook used his Abbotsford smash repair business,Procar Collision Repair Centre,to source different vehicles and swap plates to avoid detection.
Cook was living with his then-wife in Menzies Creek at the time of the abductions and was familiar with the Dandenong Ranges area,police say.
Both girls provided descriptions of their alleged attacker that police say matched photographs of Cook at the time. Officers also found a photo of a maroon car similar to that described by one of the victims during a raid of Cook’s home and business last month.
Cook’s business was forced to close after his arrest. His sister and bookkeeper told the court no one else could manage the insurance claims process.
Prosecutor Jelena Malobabic opposed bail on the basis Cook posed a safety risk to the community,could interfere with the prosecution’s witnesses and presented a flight risk.
She also argued that the 71-year-old could get rid of crucial evidence including weapons,cars and registration plates that police are yet to locate.
However,defence lawyer Emily Clark said the length of time since the alleged offences and the $500,000 surety were enough to release Cook on bail,adding the 71-year-old had the support of his family and strong ties to the state.
Relatives of Cook sighed beneath their face masks in the public gallery of Melbourne Magistrates’ Court when the decision to grant bail was delivered.
Cook will be required to hand over his travel documents,refrain from contacting witnesses and remain in the state. He will also need to report to Pakenham police station three days a week.
He will appear in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court for a committal hearing in November.
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