A man has been charged with sexual touching offences after four separate incidents on public transport across Sydney yesterday.
About 11am (Monday 1 March 2021), a 17-year-old girl was exiting a train at Central Railway Station when a man allegedly sexually touched her. The girl managed to get away from the man and reported the matter to railway staff, who contacted police.
The man boarded another train, which was bound for Newcastle and allegedly approached a 21-year-old woman about 11.20am, making her feel uncomfortable.
She moved away to an adjoining carriage before the man exited the train at Epping Railway Station. The woman remained on the train and reported the incident to police at Gosford Railway Station.
About midday – in a third incident – a 17-year-old girl was exiting a restroom at Macquarie University Metro Railway Station, when the man is alleged to have pushed her back into the restroom.
The girl managed to push the man away and reported the matter to police later that day.
About 12.30pm, a 17-year-old girl was exiting the restroom at Macquarie University Metro Railway Station, where the man is alleged to have dragged her back into the toilets.
The girl managed to get away and contacted police, who attended the scene a short time later.
Officers attached to Ryde Police Area Command arrested the man on the platform of Macquarie University Metro Station and took him to Ryde Police Station.
At the time of the arrest, officers attached to the Police Transport Command (PTC) North/Central were monitoring CCTV and liaising with PTC officers across the network as part of inquiries into the earlier reported incidents.
As a result of inquiries, officers from PTC North/Central established a link between all four incidents.
The 26-year-old Koonawarra man was charged with sexually touch another person without consent (x 3), stalk/intimidate intend fear physical etc harm (personal), resist or hinder police officer in the execution of duty and goods in personal custody suspected being stolen. He was refused bail to appear before Hornsby Local Court today (2 March 2021).
Inquiries are continuing.
Anyone with information that may assist with ongoing inquiries is urged to contact Crime Stoppers: 1800 333 000 or https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au. Information is treated in strict confidence. The public is reminded not to report information via NSW Police social media pages.
