DNA technology first that led to alleged serial rapist’s arrest
An alleged serial rapist accused of historic sexual assaults on two girls and a woman has been refused bail as a court heard he was identified as a suspect in an Australian investigation using DNA technology that has never been used before.
Robert Wayne Kwan, 77, approached the NSW Supreme Court on Friday in an attempt to be granted bail after he was arrested at his South Kempsey home earlier this year.
He was accused of three alleged sexual assaults in western Sydney, Wollongong and Dubbo from 1991 to 2002.
In all three cases, police allege he lured the victim into the car before sexually assaulting her.
Mr. Kwan was arrested in February after police used Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy (FIGG), which uses DNA technology and commercial, publicly available databases, to identify suspects.
The technology came to prominence when it was used to capture the “Golden State Killer” Joseph James DeAngelo in the United States.
In all three cases, the complainants each contacted police and were subjected to a sexual assault investigation kit, which included taking DNA samples.
The NSW Police Sex Crimes Squad began a DNA review of historical sexual assaults in 2022.
The male DNA profile obtained during the investigation was linked to one of Mr. Kwan’s close relatives, and Mr. Kwan was later identified as the suspect, police said.
Mr Kwan’s lawyer, Sharyn Hall, told the Supreme Court on Friday afternoon that the case was “unique” because it was the first case in Australia to use FIGG DNA evidence.
Since his arrest, Mr Kwan has been required to provide a DNA sample that “directly” links him to the alleged sexual assaults, Judge Helen Roberts told the court on Friday.
But Ms Hall said the admissibility of DNA evidence could be questioned.
Ms Hall told the court: “The issue will be the relevance and process between the sampling of this defendant and the process that linked him to these allegations and what happened initially and identifying him as a suspect.”
He told the court 1,400 pages of evidence had been presented to Mr Kwan’s defence, but only three pages concerned DNA material and the legal team had yet to see any laboratory reports or information explaining how the DNA link was established.
The court was told he attended a police interview following his arrest and denied any wrongdoing.
Mr Kwan applied for bail, claiming he was in poor health due to diabetes and coronary artery disease and was unable to manage his wife’s property.
He was charged with a number of offences, including five counts of sexual intercourse without consent, two counts of sexual intercourse with a person under 16 and two counts of sexual assault on a person under 16.
He has not yet made any statement of defence.
He is alleged to have sexually assaulted an 11-year-old girl after offering her a ride in his car at Glendenning in Sydney’s west in March 1991.
Police allege the man took the girl for a ride and sexually assaulted her before dropping her off at Mount Druitt.
The court was told on Friday the 11-year-old girl said the man was driving a light brown four-door car.
The court was told Mr Kwan’s wife had a beige Mazda sedan, according to the Crown case.
In February 1996 Mr Kwan allegedly sexually assaulted a teenage girl in Wollongong.
Police allege that a 16-year-old teenager in Kanahooka agreed to give her a ride, gave her a ride and sexually assaulted her before stopping the vehicle.
The alleged victim was dropped off at Warrawong.
The suspect is alleged to have sexually assaulted a 26-year-old woman in Dubbo in December 2002.
Police allege the woman agreed to drive him from near the Commercial Hotel, was taken to the reserve, where she was sexually assaulted and released nearby.
Judge Roberts refused him bail, saying: “Assuming the DNA links are established and accepted at trial, then the Crown case would appear extremely strong.”
