Teen dragged into Port Macquarie sand dunes and raped in ‘horror’ attack

The teenage girl was on her way to watch the Matildas when the man carried out the sickening attack.

The area where the teen was attacked in Port Macquarie. Picture: Supplied

A manhunt is underway after a teenager was allegedly dragged into sand dunes and sexually assaulted by a stranger as she walked past her local beach on the state’s mid north coast.

The 18-year-old was on her way to watch the Matildas play England in Port Macquarie on Wednesday night when the man, believed to be aged in his 30s and of Middle Eastern or Mediterranean appearance, carried out the horrific random attack.

Police said the man approached the woman as she walked along Alban Pl, which is an access road running alongside Town Beach, and forced her into sand dunes where he carried out the sexual attack.

Afterwards the man fled the scene on a bike, at which point the woman rang triple-0.

NSW Police Detective Inspector Peter O’Reilly said locals in the area at the time rushed to help the woman, but added he hopes others in the local seaside community could hold the answer with phone video, dashcam or CCTV set to be crucial.

Detective Inspector Peter O'Reilly will address the media on Sunday regarding the incident.

“The woman was on her way to meet some friends in the area when she was approached by the male,” Det Insp O’Reilly said.

“I won’t go into the specifics of the offence, but what I can say is that the woman was approached by the male and forced into the sand dunes.

“We are suggesting at this time it was an unprovoked attack by the male.

“We are aware that there were a lot of people in the area at the time for that live broadcast (of the World Cup), so we would like to think there are people in the community who might have information – it might be phone footage, it might be dashcam footage, but it would really assist our investigators.”

Strike Force Belsham has been launched to investigate the incident, with local detectives being assisted by specialists from the State Crime Command’s Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad.

Det Insp O’Reilly remained tight lipped on whether police believe the man is a local, but said they were canvassing footage from throughout the Port Macquarie area as well as gathering forensic evidence from the crime scene in the sand dunes.

“All avenues of investigation are open to us and we’ve been doing a lot of work since this incident was reported to police,” he said.

“We’ve been working with a lot of members of the community and we’ve canvassed a lot of areas around Port Macquarie.

“This is a horrific incident, so she (the victim) has been really well supported by family and friends, and services in the community.”

Det Insp O’Reilly said police had increased their patrols along the streets near the beach since the attack.