source : the age
An alleged serial rapist whose suspected crimes stretch more than three decades has been snared by advanced DNA technology used to catch California’s Golden State Killer in 2018, marking the first time in NSW history that forensic genetic genealogy has been deployed to apprehend a target.
Robert Wayne Kwan, 77, was charged with multiple sexual assault offences on Wednesday, after sex crime detectives under Strike Force Koolyn arrested him at a South Kempsey property following a search warrant.
The charges include five counts of sexual intercourse without consent, two counts of sexual intercourse with person 10 or over and under 16 years, two counts of sexual assault of a person under 16, taking a person with intent to obtain advantage, attempting to choke or strangle with intent to commit an indictable offence, and committing an act of indecency with a person aged 16 or over.
Kwan’s alleged crimes date back to March 1991, when an 11-year-old was sexually assaulted after being ushered into a man’s car in Sydney’s west, before being dropped off at Mount Druitt railway station.
The girl recalled spotting a pedal near the footrest of the car’s passenger seat, suggesting it was used by driving instructors. Police claim they found evidence during Wednesday’s search warrant that Kwan was a driving instructor at the time of the suspected crime, and owned a car of a similar description.
Five years later, a 16-year-old girl reported being sexually assaulted by an unknown man, after she accepted a lift from a man at Kanahooka near Lake Illawarra. She was later abandoned at Warrawong.
Another sexual assault allegedly occurred in December 2002, when a 26-year-old woman accepted a lift from a man near a Dubbo pub, before she was driven to the nearby Devil’s Hole Reserve and sexually assaulted. All three incidents were reported to police, and DNA samples were obtained.
The cases went cold for decades before being revisited in 2022, when police commenced a review of several historical sexual assault matters amid the emergence of forensic technologies promising increased prospects of identifying violent crime suspects.
Kwan was identified through forensic investigative genetic genealogy, an investigative tool that combines DNA analysis with traditional genealogy to help identify suspects through commercial databases. He was not on detectives’ radar at the time of the initial investigations, and had only come into police contact for minor traffic infringements.
The tool analyses hundreds of thousands of genetic markers, rather than the 21 markers analysed under standard DNA profiling, allowing investigators to identify extended family relationships – as distant as fourth cousins – by comparing DNA records against public genealogy databases, police said.
The DNA profile of the unknown man recorded in the three alleged sexual assaults was uploaded to the databases, allowing police to identify a close relative of Kwan, leading them to the suspect.
The 77-year-old is in custody after being charged at Kempsey Police Station. Kwan was refused bail when appearing in court on Thursday morning. The matter will be next mentioned at Kempsey Local Court on April 22.
Sex Crimes Squad Commander Detective Superintendent Jayne Doherty said Kwan’s arrest was the culmination of “four years of painstaking investigation”, recalling “a lot of cheers” among investigators when they whittled down their search to a final suspect.
“It’s taken a lot of work … to be able to go from that first familial link, a relative link, through to being able to knock on that door in South Kempsey yesterday,” Doherty said.
She signalled several other historical cases were being investigated with forensic genetic genealogy, and that detectives were “getting close” to homing in on potential suspects.
Law enforcement is only granted access to genealogy profiles consenting for the use of their DNA in investigating serious and violent crimes, and is safeguarded by frameworks designed to protect user privacy.
The Golden State Killer, real name Joseph James DeAngelo, was arrested in California in 2018 after being identified through genetic genealogy for violent crimes committed decades earlier. He was accused of multiple rapes and murders in the 1970s and 1980s.
Police homed in on DeAngelo after identifying his family tree through DNA samples, narrowing their search based on age, location and other characteristics until they matched DNA from a tissue left in the garbage with DNA left at crime scenes decades earlier.
DeAngelo pleaded guilty to 13 counts of first-degree murder in 2020, and 13 rape-related charges for crimes executed between 1975 and 1986. It followed a plea deal that spared him from a potential death sentence. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Anyone needing support can contact 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732), National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028, Lifeline 13 11 14, Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800.
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Daniel Lo Surdo is a breaking news reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald. He previously helmed the national news live blog for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via email.
