A serial thief who broke into a Canberra university college where he sexually assaulted a woman and threatened to rape her has admitted to going on a days-long crime spree.
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In the ACT Supreme Court on Wednesday, Paul David Kelly pleaded guilty to more than 20 charges. The charges include committing an act of indecency without consent, possessing stolen property, and possessing methamphetamine.
Documents previously tendered to the court said Kelly was caught on CCTV when he broke into an Australian National University college and stole a car on September 26 last year.
Kelly returned to the college about 5am on September 28 and stole several more items, including a rugby jersey, four laptops, and a trumpet. He later wore the rugby jersey while walking around the college.
About 6am Kelly entered a woman's room, where she was awoken to see him standing over her in a ski mask and rubbing her breasts. The documents said the woman asked Kelly who he was, to which he replied, "You don't know me".
The documents said the woman told Kelly to "get the f... out". He told her "I will rape you" and "I'm going to come back and I'm going to get you", before he left with her mobile phone, car keys, and wallet.
Kelly also tried to take the woman's laptop, but she managed to wrestle it back from him, the documents said. Kelly later attempted to use the woman's bank card to buy an iced coffee and five chocolate bars at Coles Curtin, but the transaction failed because the woman had reported the card stolen. Kelly later used a gift card in the woman's wallet to buy the items.
I'm going to come back and I'm going to get you.
- Paul David Kelly
That afternoon, he traded one of the laptops he stole for a Samsung Galaxy smartphone and store credit at a shop in Tuggeranong, and later bought more groceries from Coles with the gift card.
Kelly drove the stolen car to a Caltex Woolworths about 2.15pm the next day and left without paying for $77 worth of fuel. Some hours later, police followed him from Curtin to a house in Deakin, and arrested him in the front yard.
Officers searched Kelly and found him in possession of 0.008 grams of methamphetamine, which was stored in a clip-sealed bag. They also searched the stolen car and the Deakin house, where they found a wallet belonging to the woman Kelly assaulted, laptops, passports, a hard drive, and stolen boarding passes among other things.
Police returned some of the items Kelly stole to their rightful owners.
Justice Michael Elkaim arraigned Kelly on Wednesday and ordered a pre-sentence report for his matter.
Kelly will be sentenced at a later date.