Stranger danger: NSW parents warned of increase in children being harassed and threatened

PARENTS are being warned about an increase in the number of children being harassed or threatened on NSW streets — including exposure and stalking.

• TWO NINE-YEAR-OLD GIRLS APPROACHED BY MAN
• CHILD, 8, APPROACHED BY MAN IN RESTAURANT

PARENTS are being warned about a dramatic increase in the number of children being harassed or threatened on NSW streets — including obscene exposure, stalking and physical intimidation.

An investigation by The Daily Telegraph reveals the number of children intimidated has risen from 2.7 per 100,000 about two decades ago to 18.5 per 100,000 last year — a 585 per cent increase.

In total, 305 children were attacked in 2015.

Bruce Morcombe, father of murdered teenager Daniel, said it was “alarming” that so far this year nine men have been arrested over public attacks on children / Picture: Patria Jannides

The figure rises to more than one child threatened every day, 368 in total, when incidents at parks are included.

The figures for more serious crimes have remained steady.

But Bruce Morcombe, father of murdered teenager Daniel, said it was “alarming” that so far this year nine men have been arrested over public attacks on children — ranging from rape to attempted abduction and indecent filming.

Most happened in Sydney, with five occurring in toilets.

Mr Morcombe and wife Denise, whose 13-year-old son was abducted and murdered by a notorious repeat child sex offender, are calling for a national online register of convicted violent paedophiles.

“Daniel’s Law is about protecting children from the worst of the worst,” he said.

Sex Crimes Squad commander Detective Superintendent Linda Howlett said increased reporting could be behind the significant increase.

Murdered teenager Daniel Morcombe / Supplied

“If people are being harassed or bullied or approached in any way shape or form, we want them to report it, speak up about it,” she said. “We would rather have a call than not have a call.”

Police have issued “stranger danger” alerts for 45 separate incidents this year, an average of more than one every two days.

And, in a disturbing new trend, several recent incidents in Sydney include children being indecently filmed — one at a playground flying fox, ­another case over a school fence and in the third incident a man allegedly filmed an eight-year-old girl in a toilet.

This year’s cases also include three child victims of ­indecent assault where the attacker remains at large.

In one attack on March 13, a man spotted four children playing in a driveway at Wiley Park and asked if he could join in. He then lured a five-year-old girl behind a building before indecently assaulting her.

Missing toddler William Tyrrell / Supplied

At Campsie on March 11, a man in his 60s managed to persuade two eight-year-old girls playing at a unit complex to follow him to a nearby park, where he then helped them on to the monkey bars.

A passing woman saw them, and deciding the man was “acting strangely”, approached. The man left and the girls said they had no idea who he was.

In another incident, now before the courts, a 10-year-old girl on a bike at Birrong was approached by a man who allegedly tried to grab her.

She screamed for help and escaped. A witness came forward and a 66-year-old man was charged.

The recent cases also include five kids being indecently approached in toilets.