Bateau Bay: Paedophile Leslie Richard Scott molested boy, 13, at shopping centre bush track
A man has pleaded guilty to molesting a teenager on a popular shortcut through bushland to a busy Central Coast shopping centre.
Central Coast
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This is the popular shortcut through bushland to one of the Central Coast’s busiest shopping centres.
The track runs from the end of Yangoora St at the intersection of Tasman Ave to Bateau Bay Square and is used daily by people of all ages as a shortcut from Killarney Vale to the busy shopping centre.
It is also where a teenage boy was accosted by a random stranger who reached into his shorts and grabbed his genitalia.
The 13-year-old boy was cutting through the bush to Bateau Bay Square about 2pm on Sunday, December 1, with a mate, aged 15, when they came across a man wearing a distinctive red cap who said “hey”.
The older boy told his younger mate he needed to go to the toilet and kept walking leaving the boy alone on the path with 53-year-old Leslie Richard Scott, of Wyee.
A set of agreed police facts tendered to Wyong Local Court states Scott approached the boy and mumbled “I suck dick, I do bi” before grabbing him on the left side of his shirt.
The 13-year-old punched Scott as hard as he could in the chest or shoulder area but Scott, who was known to police for committing offences of a sexual nature, reached down the front of the boy’s shorts and grabbed his genitalia.
Again the teenager punched the man in the chest area and told him to “f... off” before running away.
He met up with his friend at KFC before they contacted the boy’s parents.
“(The victim) was visibly upset and shaken over the incident,” the facts read.
His parents told him they were on their way and a short time later the boy’s father pulled into the car park and met him.
About the same time they saw Scott emerging from the bush track.
The boy’s father gave chase and tackled Scott to the ground before the shopping centre’s security officers arrived and held him there until police arrived.
Scott was taken to Wyong Police Station where he was charged with intentionally sexually touching a child.
He declined to be interviewed and police urged the court not to grant him bail.
Scott pleaded guilty to the offence on Tuesday.
The court heard he was granted bail at his first appearance the day after his arrest but had remained in custody because he had not been able to find an acceptable person to act as guarantor.
Scott will be sentenced on March 3.