Police are appealing for witnesses after a teen was sexually assaulted at Yass in February.

Officers attached Queanbeyan Child Abuse Squad commenced an investigation following a report a 15-year-old girl had been sexually assaulted by a man on a nature strip near Polding Street, Yass, in the early hours of Monday 8 February 2016.

Police were told the man was with a woman who was in possession of a dog.

The man and woman observed headlights approaching and the victim left the scene shortly thereafter. The vehicle did not stop and is believed to have continued along intersecting Pritchett Street.

Detectives are appealing for witnesses, particularly anyone who may have been driving in the area at the time, to come forward.

Police are continuing to search for a man who escaped custody after being arrested near Wagga Wagga on Saturday.

Officers arrested a 19-year-old Darnell Johnston, at Bruce Street, Tolland, about 1.15am on Saturday (30 April 2016), in relation to an alleged property offence.

Whilst at the location, he ran from police and was last seen running west along Bruce Street, still in handcuffs.

Police from Wagga Wagga Local Area Command continue to investigate and are appealing for anyone with information on his whereabouts to contact them.

Darnell Johnston is described as being of Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander appearance with a tanned complexion, about 170cm tall, a medium build and approximately 80kg. He has short dark hair. He was last seen wearing black tracksuit pants and a grey, hooded jumper.

JOBS for Goulburnians will be offered in a neighbouring shire’s coalmine.

South Korean steel maker POSCO and Australian metallurgical producer Cockatoo Coal acquired a portion of land straddling the Hume Highway between Sutton Forest and Berrima in 2010 for the Hume Coal Project.

Exploratory drilling and environmental monitoring started in 2011.

Last year, the project lodged a preliminary environmental assessment with the NSW Department of Planning and Environment; and an environmental impact statement will be released for public exhibition in June this year.

Pending the project’s determination in 2017, including the granting of a development application and mining lease, Hume Coal will start recruiting.

The project expects to create at least 300 jobs from 2020 onwards, assuming the development proceeds, and is undertaking to employ people who live within a 45-minute drive, which just takes in Goulburn.

Hume Coal says it is already funding $250,000 each year for training and development of apprentices – in childcare, landscaping, electrical, building and clerical services – for non-mine roles to support project operations.

Hume Coal spokesman Ben Fitzsimmons says the project is “still exploring, but moving into the approvals process”.

“It typically takes about three years for a mine to be approved,” he said.

The project has been a matter of contention in neighbouring Wingecarribee Shire, where the proposed mine site is based, with residential concerns about groundwater and other environmental impacts as well as amenity.

“There will be no [coal seam] gas coming out of our coal mine, because we’re on the edge of the coal basin, which extends all the way from halfway between [Goulburn] and Moss Vale [to Sydney],” Mr Fitzsimmons said.

Gas has drained out of this basin towards Sydney over “millions” of years because of the type of rock stratification in the area, he said.

He said the project was “economical and viable” despite the commodities market, partly because there was no gas to drain, “a huge cost for mines”.

He also said the underground mine would have environmental credentials.

“The coal down here is used to make steel; the coal in the Hunter [region] is used to make power.

So people who argue [the project is environmentally unsound] … what we’ll make is coal for the steel used to make renewables.”

The Hume Coal Project will have representatives at the Southern Highlands Chamber of Commerce and Industry jobs expo on May 25 at Mittagong RSL.

An information session for Goulburn is planned, but as yet unconfirmed.

Police are searching for a man who escaped custody after being arrested near Wagga Wagga today.

Officers arrested a 19-year-old man, at Bruce Street, Tolland, about 1.15am today (Saturday 30 April 2016), in relation to an alleged property offence.

Whilst at the location, he ran from police and was last seen running west along Bruce Street, still in handcuffs.

Police from Wagga Wagga Local Area Command continue to investigate and are appealing for anyone with information to contact police.

The man is described as being of Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander appearance with a tanned complexion, about 170cm tall, a medium build and approximately 80kg. He has short dark hair. He was last seen wearing black tracksuit pants and a grey, hooded jumper.

A MAN has been caught speeding at 196km/h on the Hume Highway.

Police detected the man, a foreign national holding an international drivers licence, travelling along the 110km/h zone stretch at 4pm Tuesday, about 10 kilometres south of Holbrook.

The driver informed police he was “taking my mum to Melbourne”. Police confiscated the number plates from the vehicle and suspended the man from driving in NSW.

He will face court for a charge of driving in a speed/manner dangerous.

Harden mayor John Horton has scotched rumours his council’s submission to merge with Cootamundra and Gundagai under the NSW Government’s Fit for the Future NSW local government reform proposition has been withdrawn.

Mr Horton told The Young Witness yesterday the council had been advised by the NSW Government to put forward an alternative proposal for the merger of Cootamundra-Gundagai-Harden and that submission had been lodged by the new April deadline.

“It hasn’t been withdrawn, that sounds like Gundagai’s talk,” he said.

Mr Horton said the Harden community had always been unanimous in their support for a merger with Cootamundra Shire Council.

“Gundagai wants to stand alone but if we are forced to go with Gundagai we will make it work,” he said.

The rumour reached Young Shire Council’s monthly meeting last week, with general manager David Aber saying the local government minister wouldn’t take the news too lightly if it was true.

“I think it’s it is very poor play,” he said at the meeting.

Mayor Brian Ingram agreed it “wasn’t a good look”.

Of the alternative proposed merger with Young and Boorowa, Mr Horton said he didn’t have a problem with Young per se.

“I guess the only thing I don’t like is your reverse-in parking,” he said.

He speculated the community sentiment against Young could be put down to years of rivalry.

“But from a business perspective we have a lot more in common with Cootamundra,” he said.

Mr Horton said the two councils had worked hand-in-hand for years and had a good affinity with each other.

“It’s like a marriage – if you have a lot in common with someone and you like each other it has a better chance of working than, say, a shotgun marriage which might not stand the test of time,” he said.

Police are investigating a crash in Goulburn yesterday that left a man in a critical condition.

About 4pm (Friday 29 April 2016), emergency services were called to Hume Street, following reports of a crash.

Initial investigation suggest a VW Caddy travelling north on Hume Street, crashed into the rear and an Iveco flatbed tow truck, which had slowed to make a turn.

The driver of the VW, a 21-year-old man, was treated at the scene by Ambulance Paramedics before being taken to Goulburn Hospital with critical injuries.

He was later transferred by helicopter to Canberra Hospital, where he remains in a critical condition.

The driver of the Iveco, a 30-year-old man, was uninjured and was taken to Goulburn Base Hospital for mandatory blood and urine testing.

A crime scene was established and examined by specialist officers and investigations are continuing.