Ebike rider, 13, charged with sexual touching after girls and women allegedly harassed on northern beaches trails

An ebike riding 13-year-old boy has been charged with multiple sexual offences allegedly committed against women on walking trails on Sydney’s northern beaches.

New South Wales police said the boy was arrested on Saturday evening after a strike force was established to investigate inappropriate comments and alleged sexual touching incidents on walking trails in the Narrabeen area in the first weeks of October.

“Following a public appeal, a 13-year-old boy was arrested after attending Mona Vale police station about 7.30pm yesterday,” police said on Sunday.

The teenager was taken to Manly police station and 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.

On Saturday, police had released CCTV images of a male they believed could assist with inquiries.

Police allege that 11 separate incidents occurred against girls and women aged between 13 and 54.

The investigation was initially launched after three separate alleged incidents on 7 and 8 October.

“In each incident, a male allegedly approached women on walking trails, sexually touched them and then rode away on an ebike,” police said on Saturday. In one of the incidents, the offender allegedly made “inappropriate sexual comments”.

At Narrabeen lagoon about 4.30pm on 1 October the suspect “allegedly sexually touched [a] woman before riding away on an ebike,” police said.

Last Monday, police received a further report that between 5pm and 5.30pm that day, two women walking along the Narrabeen lagoon near Bilarong reserve had been sexually touched by a male riding an ebike.

Strike Force Mexvo was established to investigate the incidents with assistance from state crime command’s sex crimes quad.

Speaking in Narrabeen before Saturday’s arrest, Supt John Duncan urged members of the public to come forward with any information about the alleged incidents.

“It’s a bushland park that runs 8km, a large amount of which … runs through bushland, obviously there’s not a great deal of CCTV and cameras.”

The 13-year-old was granted conditional bail to appear at children’s court on 4 November.