Sex offender charged with stalking ambulance officer refused bail

Ian Cooper, 38, was registered as a sex offender in June 2021 and placed on a prohibition order with unusually specific conditions, including he not stalk, harass or solicit conversation with female strangers, approach staff in CBD stores or ask them personal questions.

The man has a significant criminal history.

He appeared in Warrnambool Magistrates Court on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, charged with stalking the paramedic.

The court heard the woman attended the man's house in mid 2023 following a house fire.

She was on-duty and allegedly introduced herself by only her first name.

The alleged victim did not see Mr Cooper again until about nine months later when she attended an undisclosed location to provide him medical care.

Police allege Mr Cooper immediately recognised her and called her by her first name.

As they sat in the rear of the ambulance the man allegedly told her he'd previously been jailed for sex crimes.

He allegedly asked her where she lived and what she did in her spare time.

Then on April 20, about a week later, the man was a patient at Warrnambool Base Hospital when he spotted the ambulance officer again.

The court heard she said "hi" but did not stop.

When she later told a colleague what happened, she was told Mr Cooper had approached the ambulance dock and asked where she was and for her phone number.

When Mr Cooper saw the paramedic again on April 29, he allegedly jumped up and shouted her name.

A police prosecutor said the man also asked security guards about her whereabouts, leading her to be "exceptionally frightened" for her safety both on and off duty.

He said the woman suffered anxiety about being alone due to the nature of a small town and the likelihood of running into the alleged offender.

He said Mr Cooper was known to display highly sexualised behaviour and was an unacceptable risk to the community.

The man had been charged with directing sexual activity to another person just one week earlier and was granted bail.

That allegation related to him putting his hand down his pants and thrusting his hips towards a mother and her four-year-old child in Warrnambool's Banyan Street.

He made another bid for bail on Tuesday, which was refused.

Magistrate Gerard Lethbridge said during the last application he placed a lot of weight on a section of the Bail Act regarding risk of harm and trauma to vulnerable people placed in custody, and their social and economic disadvantage, including homelessness and unstable housing.

"I accepted, and do accept, you have significant ill health, including mental illness, as well as various disabilities," he said.

But he said the protection of the community was "absolutely paramount and must outweigh those personal factors".

Mr Lethbridge said Mr Cooper had a "very, very extensive and recent" criminal history that involved breaches of the prohibition order, assaults and other stalking offences.

He said he now had no choice but to refuse bail.

Lawyer Ian Pugh has repeatedly told the court his client, Mr Cooper, faced losing his government housing if remanded in custody for too long.

He said his client "believed he was being friendly" and that if granted bail, Mr Cooper could remain at home with NDIS and other support workers bringing him food and medication.

But the prosecutor said the man was a serious risk to the female paramedic who was just doing her job.

He said Mr Cooper clearly had "absolutely no control over his apparent fixation on her" and had clearly breached the prohibition order put in place to protect women.

Mr Cooper was remanded in custody and will face court again on May 27.