top-stories, Neal Kretschmann

A public servant is accused of hiding in bushes outside a woman's bedroom window and masturbating as he watched her sleep. Neal Kretschmann, 36, was phoned into the ACT Magistrates Court on Thursday from the Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC). Acting Chief Magistrate Glenn Theakston "reluctantly" granted him bail, but noted Mr Kretschmann was accused of "obsessive and creepy" behaviour. As part of Mr Kretschmann's bail conditions, he is not allowed to travel north of Lake Burley Griffin. Police documents tendered to the court said between January 11 and March 26, an Ainslie woman received eight unsolicited visits from a tall bald man, mostly during the late evening. On one occasion, she woke about 1.50am to see him staring at her from outside her bedroom window, where he appeared to be masturbating. On other occasions, CCTV captured the man hiding in bushes at the woman's house and looking into her bedroom window. The documents said that, during a police door knock on the morning of March 27, neighbours said they'd seen Mr Kretschmann in the area. About 10pm on March 28, police observed a Land Rover Defender have its lights turned off as it travelled past the woman's house, and have them turned back on once it cleared it. "[The car] left the immediate area quickly," the documents said. After 9pm on March 29, officers allegedly saw Mr Kretschmann standing in bushes at the woman's Ainslie house. They approached him and he said he lived in Yarralumla, but was out for a walk. "At the time of the conversation it was raining moderately heavy," the documents said. Police found Mr Kretschmann in possession of keys for a Land Rover Defender and arrested him for stalking about 9.45pm. In court on Thursday, a defence lawyer said Mr Kretschmann had friends who lived in Ainslie, including "high-ranking" public servants. He said Mr Kretschmann had been a solicitor, and the accused man's girlfriend gave evidence he had received civilian medals for public service roles. Mr Kretschmann's LinkedIn profile says he is an executive officer at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. It says he has had postings at the Australian Embassy in Kabul and served as first secretary for the Australian High Commission in Dhaka. The defence lawyer said Mr Kretschmann's alleged victim hadn't explicitly identified him as being the man in the CCTV. He said Mr Kretschmann had a history of "occupying positions of extreme trust", but said if that didn't "impress" Mr Theakston, he could be assured he would abide by strict bail conditions. Prosecutor Anna Jamieson-Williams said there was a "strong prosecution" case against Mr Kretschmann. "One would have thought if he was a lawyer he would have known better than to engage in this type of behaviour," she said. Mr Kretschmann is next due in court on May 5.

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