Following a search warrant at Mr Awad’s Deer Park home on Thursday, police said there were at least 50 victims and the investigation is continuing. During the search of his house, police also found locked metal boxes in the garage. Mr Awad allegedly told police he didn’t know where the keys were, however they were later found in his bedroom and police found women’s clothing inside. Police also allegedly found a handwritten note with references to the phrases “butter legs”, “skank” and “tart”, as well as 33 bank cards in various names and documents which suggest mail has been stolen from at least five different people. Detective Senior Constable Elise Douglas told the court the first complainant received a phone call just after 8.30am on September 3, 2018, from a blocked number which she did not answer. The male caller left a voicemail in which he said: “Hey skanky pants, what’s going on, I haven’t seen you in a while, just thought I would give you a quick call … and yeah I wouldn’t mind catching up.”

He went on to describe in explicit detail the sexual acts he would do to the complainant. The woman did not recognise the voice. She received a similar call in the early hours of the next day, in which he referred to her as “butter legs”, “skanky pants” and told her she was “looking hot”. The court heard the second victim received a similar voicemail, in which the caller said: “You sex machine … what’s going on you slut … still being a little dirty tart?”. Senior Detective Douglas said all 11 victims were subject to the same kind of “sexualised comments”. “The language, phrases, slang and pitch of the male voice was strikingly similar across all messages," she said.

Charge sheets show the alleged offender called the victims a number of phrases including "skanky little slut", "butter legged tart", "sex machine", "dirty tart" and "blonde bimbo tart". Loading He has been charged with 11 counts of stalking with the intention of causing physical or mental harm to the victim, including self-harm, or of arousing apprehension or fear in the victim for their safety. Police allege three mobile phone numbers were used to contact victims from the one handset, which was found in Mr Awad’s wardrobe. Call records obtained by police revealed one of the mobile numbers used was registered to a man living in Sydenham. An ID with this name and address was found in a brown leather wallet in Mr Awad’s wardrobe.

They also found a notebook which contained codes to "rate young girls on social media", said Senior Detective Douglas, which included a reference to the code “pre-teen”. The entries on the spreadsheet were "consistently of women and of young women,” Senior Detective Douglas said. During an interview with police, Mr Awad said the spreadsheet had been exported from his mobile phone and was a list of contacts he had found through social media and saved with a profile image he had selected from Facebook or Instagram. He also “played down his offending”, Senior Detective Douglas said. “He understood it was wrong but didn’t think it was that bad when he did it … he was just being a nuisance and just making prank calls.

“The accused stated it does sound bad when he hears the content of the voicemail messages read back to him.” He also told investigators he did it because he was “bored and at home”, but said he wasn’t responsible for all the offending and claimed he only had one prepaid mobile phone number. Also in the home was evidence which suggested Mr Awad has been in regular contact with a known registered sex offender, Senior Detective Douglas said. Drug paraphernalia was found, including a small crystal rock substance believed to be methamphetamine, a small plastic zip-lock bag with white powder and 23 different medication tablets in locked cash tins with no prescriptions. Mr Awad is expected to receive further charges relating to the drugs and the spreadsheet.

The court heard Mr Awad is separated from his wife and has three children. He lives with his mother at her home in Deer Park, in Melbourne's west. He is unemployed and receives Newstart payments. When asked why he should be granted bail, he said he wanted to spend time with his children and mother. “I have a good relationship with my three kids and although they live with their mother I try to have as much involvement in their life as possible,” he said. “For my mum as well, she lives on her own, I have no brothers or sisters so this is quite hard on her as well. As bad as the situation is, I'd like to be there to support my mum and the kids before the final verdict is read out.”

Police opposed bail, arguing Mr Awad is likely to reoffend. “The biggest concern for investigators … is the fact that the manner in which he is committing these offences is so easy,” said Senior Detective Douglas. “As long as he has access to social media that offending is occurring and it is serious with victims that are very young. Magistrate Stella Stuthridge refused bail, describing the offending as "relatively sophisticated" and "not spontaneous". The matter will return to court on March 12.