A 13-year-old boy has been charged with 11 criminal offences following a series of disturbing incidents on walking trails across Sydney’s northern beaches. The teenager, who allegedly targeted women and girls while riding an ebike, was arrested on Saturday evening after police issued a public appeal for information.
New South Wales police established Strike Force Mexvo earlier this month to investigate a spree of inappropriate comments and incidents of sexual touching reported along the popular Narrabeen lagoon trails. The investigation, which was bolstered by assistance from the State Crime Command’s Sex Crimes Squad, identified a pattern of behaviour that spanned several weeks.
Authorities allege the teenager approached victims—ranging in age from 13 to 54—on the walking trails before sexually touching them and fleeing the scene on his ebike. In some instances, police report that the suspect also made inappropriate sexual comments to those he targeted.
The investigation intensified following a string of reports on October 7 and 8. One notable incident occurred at Narrabeen Lagoon around 4:30 p.m. on October 1, where a woman reported being sexually touched by a male on an ebike. By last Monday, police received additional reports involving two more women near the Bilarong Reserve, further escalating the urgency of the investigation.
Before the arrest, Superintendent John Duncan had highlighted the difficulty of policing the area, noting that the 8km-long trail network runs through dense bushland, leaving large sections without surveillance coverage. However, after police released CCTV images on Saturday in an attempt to identify the suspect, the teenager surrendered to authorities.
“Following a public appeal, a 13-year-old boy was arrested after attending Mona Vale police station about 7:30 p.m. yesterday,” a police spokesperson confirmed on Sunday.
The teenager was subsequently transported to Manly police station, where he was formally charged with three counts of behaving in an offensive manner in or near a public place and eight counts of sexually touching another person without consent.
The arrest has brought a sense of relief to the local community, which had been on high alert following the reports of serial attacks in the nature-filled recreational area. Despite the gravity of the charges, the teenager has been granted conditional bail. He is expected to face the Children’s Court on November 4 to answer to the allegations.
Police are continuing to urge anyone who may have additional information or who feels they were affected by similar incidents in the area to contact investigators as the legal process begins. With the matter now before the courts, authorities have declined to provide further specific details regarding the victims or the ongoing investigation.
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