Man charged with SEVEN counts of rape and sexual assault of girl, 16, after allegedly breaking in to her bedroom and attacking her during terrifying ordeal

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A man has been charged following a home invasion and allegedly assaulting a teenage girl in her bedroom during a traumatic one-hour ordeal.

The 18-year-old man, from Cheltenham in Melbourne's southeast, handed himself in to police on Saturday morning before being questioned at the Sexual Crime Squad headquarters.

The investigation follows after a 16-year-old girl was sleeping in the rear bungalow of her family property in Devon Street, Cheltenham, when she woke to find a man sitting on the edge of her bed about 2.30am on Thursday.

The man has been charged with seven counts of rape, seven counts of indecent assault and one count of aggravated burglary. He will front the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Saturday afternoon.

Earlier on Friday, police said the man, who had 'disturbing' conversations with his victim, threatened to produce a knife before 'seriously' sexually assaulting her for more than an hour.

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A police FACE image of the man they want to interview in relation to a sexual assault on a 16-year-old girl

Senior Sergeant Jason Walsh from the Victoria Police Sex Crimes Squad who renewed his appeal earlier on Saturday, said police were closing in on the alleged sex attacker.

'Happy to say we've got quite a few calls overnight and our guys are sifting through the information,' Snr Sgt Walsh said.

'Having said that, we will appeal with anybody else who was in that area and may know who this person is to call Crime Stoppers and try and help us catch this person.

'We urge that person, if it is you, to come forward and see the police - we need to talk to you urgently.' 

Snr Sgt Walsh said the man had 'bizarre conversations' with his victim, including 'offering money for what had happened, offering money in return to make things better'.

'Discussions about the fact that his parents would be disappointed in his actions.'

The father of the teen who was assaulted, has made a public appeal for the sex attacker to come forward

Afterwards the terrified teenager ran into the main house and raised the alarm.

She described her attacker as a youngish teen boy, clean shaven, with a deep voice and possibly bald.

He was wearing a grey hoodie with the hood over his head. 

A suspicious man wearing a grey hoodie was seen near the house by a neighbour putting out his bins three hours before the attack.

The neighbour said he thought it was strange the man appeared to be going for a walk because it was raining quite heavily at the time. 

The victim's father Robert (*not his real name) also saw a man matching the offender's description on the street outside his property after hearing a bang on their side gate about 11pm Wednesday.

Senior Sergeant Jason Walsh the man had 'disturbing' conversations with his victim when he allegedly assaulted her

The girl's father spoke to the man, who denied he was trying to enter the property.

'I saw a guy walking normally along the footpath on the other side of fence and I yelled out to him,' Robert said.

'He stopped and turned and took a couple of steps back towards me and I just asked him if he was down our side gate and he said it wasn't him, and he was really relaxed and just a normal person, normal kid,' he said before breaking down in tears. 

'I got comfort, I didn't think it was him because he was so calm, so relaxed.' 

Robert said he was on edge following the encounter, but eventually fell asleep about 1.30am Thursday. A couple of hours later he and his wife were then woken up by the family dog barking.

'Five seconds later we heard just crying at the end of our bed and our daughter basically crawled onto our bed and was crying,' he said.

'In 30 seconds we understood what her garbled message was - a guy had been in her bedroom.'

The girl's father searched for the offender in neighbouring streets but could not find him while the girl's mother called police.

Around 40 detectives from the Sexual Crimes Squad are investigating the incident and are appealing for information to help identify the man involved.

He is described as being aged between 18 and 20 and police have compiled a FACE image of a man they want to interview.

A teenage girl was sexually assaulted by a man for more than an hour during a home invasion in Devon Street (pictured), in the southeastern Melbourne suburb of Cheltenham

Robert appealed to the man to turn himself into police. 

'I guess from what my daughter has said this guy has got a conscience, he knows that he has done the wrong thing and he knows he shouldn't have been there,' he said.

'He spent an hour with her so they conversed a lot, so I'd just encourage him, he's got to come forward if he wants to have a clear conscience on himself.' 

Police said the victim was 'absolutely terrified and traumatised' by the attack.

Robert said his daughter was 'shaken' following the attack but added she has been surprisingly resilient.

'Obviously at times she just breaks down - we went to the movies to try to distract her and as we were leaving she just started bawling for no reason,' he said.

'Other times she is able to just smile and laugh and talk normally.

'She wanted to bake a cake to try and be normal - she feels like doing things normally as much as she can.'

A suspicious man wearing a grey hoodie was seen near the house three hours before the attack

Snr Sgt Walsh said investigators were unaware how the man knew the victim was located in the bungalow.

'At this stage it's too early to tell if this man stalked her or followed her home but it is certainly a line of inquiry,' he said.

There was no sign of forced entry on the property's fences and it is believed the man entered the bungalow, which was unlocked, after gaining access to the property via a neighbour's backyard.

Robert said his property had high fences and people standing on the street could not tell there was a bungalow at the back of the house.

'We didn't imagine something like this would happen - my wife and I are kicking ourselves,' he said.

'We only moved in 18 months ago and we put this massive wooden gate up as a deterrent because we had my wife's sister living with us for a while and she thought she heard people up and down this side area [of the property].

'Our cars have been broken into twice and stuff has been robbed off our front veranda.

'So of course you start playing the blame game a bit.'

Anyone with any information, or who might have witnessed any suspicious activity in the vicinity of Devon St, is urged to contact Crime Stoppers immediately on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential crime report at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au

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