25 YEAR-OLD MAN REFUSED BAIL, AFTER ALLEAGED SEXUAL ASSAULT AND ATTEMPTED MURDER OF 13 YEAR-OLD GIRL

A 25-year-old Maitland man has been refused bail, after facing court charged with the rape and attempted murder of a 13-year-old girl at Jesmond.

Peter Kevin Smith is also accused of robbing a mother as she strapped her baby into at pram at Maitland, just hours earlier.