An 18-year-old Victorian man has blamed rough surf and strong winds for a series of alleged assaults against girls and women on the Gold Coast.
Police allege the man assaulted eight girls and women as they swum between the flags yesterday afternoon at Surfers Paradise.
It is alleged the girls and women, aged between 15 and 24, were assaulted in a half-hour period.
They complained about the man to lifeguards, who called police.
The Pakistani national was charged with two counts of attempted rape, seven counts of sexual assault and four counts of common assault and appeared in the Southport Magistrates Court this morning.
The court heard the man allegedly sexually assaulted two of the females through their bikini bottoms.
His lawyer told the court that winds and big waves pushed her client into the women, who were swimming between the flags in separate groups.
But Magistrate John Costanzo said the man’s explanation that heavy surf and wind conditions caused the alleged assaults seemed implausible.
“The Crown will argue that’s the most unfortunate conspiracy of circumstances in history,” he said.
Mr Costanzo denied the man’s bail application because he was an unacceptable risk of re-offending.
“My view of the facts in this case is the Crown case appears to be quite strong in the allegation of eight separate, brazen and repeated sexual assaults and attempted rape,” he said.
Top Comments
So glad they caught this piece of sh*t immediately and he is being charged!
Without knowing the full details of what he actually did, I could see it happening once. You dive underwater, can't see anything, hands out in front of you, etc. A profuse apology later and it's all settled.
For it to happen over and over again is absolutely unfathomable!