UPDATE: A man has appeared in court charged with abducting two women and assaulting them in Brunswick, near where Jill Meagher was killed.
Adam Robertson, 36, was arrested and charged on Tuesday in relation to two separate alleged abductions, in the space of about an hour, early on the morning of May 10.
Mr Robertson, of Brooklyn, made a brief appearance in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday afternoon to face 11 charges, including indecent assault, stalking, abduction and recklessly causing injury.
He was remanded in custody.
He is accused of separately stalking two women after they left bars in the area and assaulting them in streets off Sydney Road.
Prosecutor Luke Exell said Mr Robertson attended one music venue and followed a woman, 22, who left about 1.15am.
He took her in a headlock and walked her along Stewart Street, where he sexually assaulted her, Mr Exell said. The court heard the woman resisted and Mr Robertson left the scene.
Mr Exell said Mr Robertson later followed a woman who left a hotel and walked along Weston Street.
The woman became aware of the man’s presence and turned into another street, the court heard, but he tackled her to the ground. The woman hit her head and was assaulted, Mr Exell said.
Ms Meagher was raped and killed in September 2012 after she was followed by a man along Sydney Road and grabbed and dragged into a side street.
Defence counsel Chris McLennan said images broadcast in the media of Mr Robertson had the potential to prejudice future court hearings.
Magistrate John Doherty imposed a suppression order preventing media from broadcasting or publishing photographs, vision and court sketches of the accused man for one week, so police could continue investigations.
Mr Robertson, dressed in blue jeans and a black windcheater and with his brown hair cut short, did not apply for bail. He is scheduled to return to court on August 15.
Police are still investigating an unrelated assault on a woman in a park in Hope Street, Brunswick, last Friday night.
