Christian O’Brien was charged earlier this year after a public appeal for information in January regarding an incident which allegedly occurred on Little Bourke Street in Melbourne’s CBD.
He allegedly fled to Brisbane “to avoid apprehension” earlier this year after he was linked to the sexual assault.
Court documents released during a Melbourne Magistrates Court hearing on Monday reveal that O’Brien allegedly “intentionally sexually touched the complainant, a child under the age of 16, in circumstances where the touching was contrary to community standards of acceptable conduct.”
The alleged incident was said to have occurred on August 2nd, 2019. In early January, police appealed for information, releasing a picture of a man they wanted to speak to.
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Following the release of the photograph by the police, they said that they had received information from the public and were following up with several lines of inquiry.
The Herald Sun reports that O’Brien fled Victoria after he was linked to the alleged attack.
The court documents from this week also revealed that the police informant requested a warrant be issued for O’Brien’s arrest in early January.
“The accused has been identified as the offending male as a result of a media release being circulated,” the document reads.
“Upon the media release being circulated, the accused has subsequently fled Melbourne to Brisbane in a bid to avoid apprehension. The accused is failing to engage with investigators and investigators believe he is likely to flee the country.”
O’Brien was charged soon after and his case returned to court on Monday and his next appearance is set down for a contest mention on February 18th.
O’Brien is best known as the guitarist and songwriter for Melbourne-based indie-pop band Alpine, They released two studio albums, A Is For Alpine in 2012, for which they were nominated for Breakthrough Artist and Best Video at the 2012 ARIA awards, and Yuck in 2015.
The quintet most recently released the single ‘Dumb’ in 2019.
