Detectives investigating the cold case murder of a teenager in country New South Wales have charged a man over the alleged historic sexual assault of another girl.
Two alleged rapes were uncovered during the investigation of the 1997 death of Bathurst 15-year-old Jessica Small.
Earlier today a 43-year-old man from the tiny NSW locality of Bruinbun was arrested at Newcastle Police Station charged with two counts of sexual intercourse without consent.
His purported victim was allegedly raped twice in the Bathurst area, in 1994 and 1996, when she was aged 17 and 19.
The man was refused bail to appear at Newcastle Local Court today.
The murder of Jessica Small remains unsolved.
She was abducted by an unknown man in the early hours of Sunday October 26, 1997, in the Bathurst suburb of Eglington.
She has not been seen since. A 2014 coronial inquest concluded that she had been murdered.
Detectives from the Unsolved Homicide Unit continue to investigate her death.
A $1 million reward has been offered for anyone whose help leads to an arrest and conviction of those responsible.