Runners found 12-year-old on street screaming about alleged rape

CONTENT WARNING: This article refers to alleged child abuse.

Two runners were jogging through Belconnen late last year when they came across a 12-year-old girl who was allegedly screaming that she had just been raped.

They took her to police straight away and an investigation began that resulted in the arrest of 55-year-old Laurence Martin Coghlan over the allegations.

The girl met him when he was walking his dog around Westfield Belconnen in December 2024, the ACT Magistrates Court heard.

It is alleged they went to his home, where he raped and indecently assaulted her.

Afterwards, the girl ran out of his home, leaving behind her jacket and losing her shoes in the process, when she was spotted by the runners and taken to a police station, the court heard.

Coghlan was arrested the day after the alleged assault and was charged with one count of sexual intercourse with a person under 16 and two counts of committing an act of indecency on a person under 16.

He spent months in custody before appearing in the Magistrates Court to apply for bail for the third time on Friday (7 March), which was opposed by the prosecution.

His lawyer, Legal Aid’s Edward Chen, said the girl alleged to police that she had been at Westfield Belconnen when she saw Coghlan and his dog in the carpark, told him he had a cute dog and walked away.

The lawyer said she alleged she thought she had been followed when she walked down the street alone, then once she passed Coghlan’s home, he emerged and “effectively kidnapped her, taking her inside the home”.

However, Mr Chen played security camera footage from Westfield Belconnen that showed the girl leaving the shopping centre with Coghlan and the pair walking down the street together.

The defence lawyer claimed the girl lied to police. He said she was the only person in Coghlan’s house who alleged any sexual activity took place and argued that the prosecution’s case was “exceptionally weak”.

Mr Chen also said his client had been “inseparable” from his dog, but the pet was with the RSPCA and risked being rehomed if Coghlan was not released from custody.

Forensic tests were conducted on the girl as soon as she was taken to a police station and lawyers fought over a recently obtained DNA report that examined the results.

Mr Chen claimed the DNA evidence “doesn’t support” the allegations, while prosecutor James Melloy argued it was “actually compelling evidence”.

Mr Melloy accepted the security camera footage was inconsistent with the girl’s claims of what happened before she got to Coghlan’s house, but he argued there was support to her allegations from then.

He said the two runners had seen her running from the direction of Coghlan’s house, screaming. Also, police found her jacket inside the house and her shoes outside it.

Magistrate Robert Cook said he had “some concerns” about the girl’s claims due to the CCTV footage.

But he also said while the footage depicted a different version of what happened at the initial stage of the events, that didn’t determine what happened “in a different time and a different location”.

Magistrate Cook said Coghlan was not able to satisfy legal conditions allowing him to apply for bail and he thought it was a strong prosecution case.

The magistrate also said if he had considered a bail application, he would have had “significant concerns” about releasing him into the community given the allegations and would have refused it in any event.

Coghlan was remanded in custody to 14 April. He has pleaded not guilty.

If this story has raised any concerns for you, 1800RESPECT, the national 24-hour sexual assault, family and domestic violence counselling line, can be contacted on 1800 737 732 or by visiting www.1800respect.org.au. Help and support are also available through the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre on 02 6247 2525, the Domestic Violence Crisis Service ACT on 02 6280 0900, the Sexual Violence Legal Services on 6257 4377 and Lifeline on 13 11 14. In an emergency, call triple zero.