The man accused of sexually assaulting two children he enticed away from a North Perth child care centre has changed his plea to guilty - moments before the two young children were due to give evidence.
Vincenzo Mule originally pleaded not guilty to luring the two children, a boy aged five and a girl aged four, away from the centre in April last year, and was expected to go to trial to fight the charges.
But on Thursday, during a hearing where the two children were due to record their evidence, the 52-year-old admitted to the offences, pleading guilty to three counts of sexual penetration of a child under 13 – two against the girl, and one against the boy – and two counts of deprivation of liberty.
The three sexual penetration offences were finally revealed in court on Thursday - with details emerging that Mule forced both the children to carry out oral sex on him, while the third involved the 52-year-old paedophile carrying out oral sex on the young girl.
Mule, who has been in custody since the offence, admitted enticing the children away from a North Perth holiday care program on April 19 around midday.
He then sexually assaulted them both before dumping them in Hyde Park where a stranger found them upset and lost a short time later. The child care centre had not noticed the children were missing until alerted by police.
The attack sparked a manhunt across Perth and the child care centre was later fined more than $40,000 in relation to the incident.
During a State Administrative Tribunal hearing into the child care centre's procedures that day, the tribunal heard educators had spotted a man sitting and smoking near the children in a public park outside the centre shortly before the two children went missing.
A suppression order remains in place preventing the media from publishing images of Mule.
He has been remanded in custody until February 10, where he will appear again in court before sentencing.
