A 13-year-old boy has been arrested and charged over 11 separate incidents involving the sexual assault or harassment of women in the Narrabeen Lagoon area of Sydney’s Northern Beaches.
The incidents occurred between September 7 and October 12, involving women and girls aged between 13 and 54.
NSW Police established specialist sexual crimes investigation unit Strike Force Mexvo following the string of sexual assault and harassment reports from women in Sydney’s Northern Beaches.
Strike Force Mexvo brought together specialist detectives and officers from the Sex Crimes Squad to investigate the possible link between descriptions of the perpetrator and areas involved in the recently reported offences.
The unit then released footage of the suspect on Friday, showing a male with a blurred face on an e-bike.
Police urged anyone who knew the male to provide further information of his whereabouts and identity.
On Saturday evening, the boy presented himself to police and was arrested.
“Following a public appeal, a 13-year-old boy was arrested after attending Mona Vale Police Station about 7.30pm yesterday (Saturday 17 October 2026),” a police statement announced
The teenager was then taken to Manly Police Station and charged with three counts of behaving in an offensive manner in a public place and eight counts of sexually touching another person without consent.
The first reported incident in the teen’s alleged string of sexual offences occurred at 3.55pm on October 7 when a woman was allegedly sexually touched by a man riding an e-bike while she was walking on the Narrabeen Lagoon trail.
She described the perpetrator, who sped off after committing the alleged assault, as having a slim build, wearing a fluorescent yellow shirt and dark pants.
Another incident occurred at about 3.15pm the following day of October 8 when a runner on the nearby Narrabeen Lake trail was allegedly subjected to inappropriate sexual remarks.
The victim described the perpetrator as being of Caucasian appearance, aged between 17 and 25, and having short spiky hair and sideburns.
Two hours later on the same day, an e-bike rider allegedly approached another woman exercising at Bilarong Reserve and sexually touched her before fleeing on his e-bike.
She described the offender as having blond, curly hair and estimated his age to be around 15 or 16-years-old.
On Monday October 12, two women were allegedly sexually touched in the same hour whilst walking beside Narrabeen Lagoon in the afternoon.
The offender was once again said to be riding an e-bike and described as Caucasian, aged between 16 and 18, approximately 175cm tall and wearing a bright yellow top with green on the sides, long black pants and a round black helmet.
A sixth woman then came forward to police on October 12 with information of an incident on October 1 where she was allegedly sexually touched by a man on an e-bike at Narrabeen Lagoon.
Police have also alleged the same perpetrator carried out a similar offence on September 7.
“It will also be alleged that a woman was spoken to inappropriately at the intersection of Waroon Road and Carawa Road, Cromer, about 6.45pm on Monday 7 September 2026,” the police statement said.
One of the women involved in the string of alleged assaults spoke to local publication Manly Observer about the offence in which she was allegedly touched on the behind.
“I just went on a walk, and sat for a while at a bench. There was someone on an e-bike loitering around Bilarong park area,” the young woman told Manly Observer.
“I didn’t think much of it, then stood up to walk again and [was] listening to a podcast.
“It just gave me a huge fright,” she said.
The boy has been granted conditional bail and is due to appear before a children’s court on Wednesday November 4.
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