AN outraged woman has resorted to extreme lengths to reclaim her suburb and help police catch an alleged brazen sex pest accused of exposing himself to terrified women while riding a bike along the foreshore in Applecross.

The woman, who wanted to remain anonymous, claims she’d been confronted by the man multiple times while walking in a park along Melville Beach Road, and has spoken to other women who say they’ve had similar disturbing encounters with the alleged flasher.

“I was really upset when I found out other women were feeling just as terrified as I was,” she said. “One woman I spoke to told me she was never going to go back to that park.”

She said the man stayed on his bike during most of the incidents, but on occasion he hopped off and approached her, and she’s told other women. So this week, in a bizarre tactic to say the least, she spent three days hiding out in the park wearing a gorilla cop costume — so the alleged pervert would not be able to recognise her — in case he turned up.

On Thursday, the woman, who has named herself “Cop Kong”, finally spotted the accused bike-riding deviant, who wore shorts which he allegedly had pulled up around his waist so his genitals were hanging out, followed him on her own bike and relayed details and his exact location to the local Palmyra police.

Yesterday, police charged a 47-year-old Palmyra man with four counts of committing indecent acts in public over a nine-month period, from May last year until Thursday.

The woman said she felt compelled to do her own stakeout — as well as put up her own warning posters around local parks alerting people to the alleged indecent exposer — because every woman deserved to feel safe and not be harassed in public.

Camera Icon The man accused of flashing women.

A WA Police Force spokeswoman did not confirm exactly what led police to charge the alleged pervert, but said valuable information from the public was received during this investigation. It’s understood multiple reports, including photographs, have been provided to police.

The woman said she did not feel she had put herself in harm’s way by trying to track the alleged offender from a distance in broad daylight and the gorilla costume was the best way she could think of to conceal her identity. She said other women should feel empowered to stand up for themselves, but in a safe and careful manner.

The man is due to face court at a later date.

Police advise citizens in situations like these to report the matter to police, keep their distance and not approach the culprit.