A MAN accused of raping a woman in a random attack at Islington last year has pleaded not guilty and will face a trial in Newcastle District Court.
David John Greentree, 47, of Windale, appeared in Newcastle Local Court on Wednesday via audio visual link from a Sydney jail where he pleaded not guilty to a charge of aggravated sexual assault and inflict actual bodily harm.
Mr Greentree will next appear in Newcastle District Court next month to get a trial date, likely in 2023.
The 47-year-old is accused of approaching a woman, 23, from behind after she had left work and was walking to her car on Maitland Road at Islington about 11.30pm on December 10.
Detectives allege the woman was physically and sexually assaulted before a passerby intervened and chased the attacker along Maitland Road and into Beaumont Street and Fern Street before he escaped.
Newcastle City police and sex crimes squad detectives launched an investigation and arrested Mr Greentree at a business at Sandgate about 8am on December 13.
