A teenage rapist was caught harassing a female sunbather during a supervised beach visit after his minders allegedly lost track of him.
The boy was on a supervised trip to a secluded Central Coast beach with a group of up to nine teenagers from the Frank Baxter Juvenile Justice Centre in New South Wales at the time of the incident.
The alleged incident happened two days before
Christmas, during the peak holiday period.
Despite there being two staff supervising the excursion, a juvenile justice officer alleged the boy was missing for up to 15 minutes before he was found,
The Daily Telegraph reported.
The youth officer, who wished to remain anonymous, said the incident had reignited safety fears.
'The public would be furious to see that detainees such as these were being let loose on outings to mingle with the community at the beach.'
Excursions like this happen weekly, and have previously involved camping trips and kayaking.
The trips are available to detainees serving the final third of their sentence, but this is dependent on good behaviour.
The trip was part of a program aimed at preparing detainees to reintegrate back into the community, a spokesman for Juvenile Justice NSW said.
The detainee had left the water and began to walk towards a woman sitting on the beach when the youth officer immediately intervened, he said.