Alleged attacker arrested after victim ripped out dreadlock
A man has gone on trial for raping a woman in a random attack in Adelaide.
The court heard a dreadlock ripped from the head of the attacker led to an arrest.
A DNA profile was then extracted from the dreadlock, but it took three years for police to find a match and arrest Benjamin Heldon.
The woman was attacked while walking through Victoria Park late at night in December 2013.
The man grabbed her from behind, threw her to the ground and sexually assaulted her.
The prosecutor told the jury how the woman fought her attacker, punching him in the face, gouging his eyes and then grabbing one of his dreadlocks.
As she held onto his hair, he turned his face and tried to bite her hand. The dreadlock came away from her attacker’s head and stayed in her hand.
The court was told police later found matted hair at the crime scene and strands entangled in the victim’s glasses, which she lost during the sexual assault.
Forensic tests uncovered a DNA match with the hair as well as swabs taken from the victim’s hands and fingernails.
By then, Heldon had moved to country New South Wales.
When police searched his home, they found a large bundle of dreadlocks hanging on a hook inside his bedroom.
Heldon is denying he sexually assaulted the woman.
