Beach sexual assault | Port Macquarie | August 20, 2023
Det. Inspector Peter O'Reilly addresses the media over the alleged sexual assault at Port Macquarie's Town Beach on Wednesday night, August 16, 2023.
Interview Emily Walker. Video and editing, Sue Stephenson
Interview Emily Walker. Video and editing, Sue Stephenson
Transcript
00:00 Yes, so about 8.30pm on Wednesday evening, an 18 year old woman was walking near Town
00:06 Beach at Port Macquarie when she was approached by a male.
00:10 The male forced her into the nearby sand dunes where he sexually assaulted her.
00:16 He left the area and the woman was assisted and made her way to Port Macquarie Police
00:21 Station.
00:22 A crime scene was then established at the beach.
00:26 Since that time our local detectives have been working with the State Crime Command
00:30 Sex Crime Squad investigators under Strike Force Belsham to investigate this matter.
00:38 Police are interested in speaking with a male person who was in the vicinity at the time.
00:42 He is described as Mediterranean, Middle Eastern appearance in his early 30s.
00:47 He is approximately 175 to 178cm tall, dark hair, dark complexion and a beard.
00:55 He was wearing a dark coloured top and jeans and possibly riding a push bike at the time.
01:01 So we are urging anybody that may have been in the area at the time that may have dash
01:05 cam footage or footage on their telephones to come forward and assist investigators with
01:11 their enquiries.
01:13 The woman was on her way to meet some friends in the area when she was approached by the
01:17 male.
01:18 We are suggesting at this time that it is an unprovoked attack.
01:21 The actual location is the town beach, so not Stewart Street but down on Auburn Place.
01:27 We are aware that there were a lot of people in the area at the time for that live broadcast
01:31 so we would like to think that there are people in the community that may have information.
01:36 Again it might be phone footage, it might be dash cam footage that would really assist
01:42 our investigators.
01:43 We encourage them to contact Port Macquarie Police or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
01:50 And what sort of condition is the 18 year old victim in?
01:53 Is she okay?
01:55 She's been really well supported by family and friends and attended to by some professional
02:00 services on the night.
02:02 Obviously this is a horrific incident and we've been doing a lot of work since this
02:08 incident was reported to police.
02:10 So we've been working with a lot of members of the community.
02:13 We have canvassed a lot of areas around Port Macquarie indeed.
02:16 We've spoken to a number of people.
02:18 We are aware that there are some other people who were in the area at the time.
02:22 One person in particular who assisted this woman and we'd greatly appreciate if that
02:27 person was able to come forward and speak with us.
02:30 Since the report of the incident we've certainly increased our patrols in that area.
02:34 Do locals in that area need to be concerned about their personal safety at all?
02:38 No as I said it's an unprovoked attack.
02:41 These types of incidents are extremely rare and especially in Port Macquarie we don't
02:46 see these sorts of incidents occurring.
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