Man arrested over sex assault on young girl at beach

Photo / APN

A man has been arrested over a sexual assault on an 8-year-old girl at a South Island beach at the weekend.

The 20-year-old Invercargill man was arrested this morning and was due to appear in Invercargill District Court today, police said.

The girl was assaulted at Oreti Beach on Saturday.

Police still wanted to hear from any one who may have been at the beach about 4pm on Saturday.

"There was a large number of people present on the beach at the time and police are keen to hear from anyone who might have seen someone acting suspiciously in the area.''

The incident occurred in sand dunes about 50 metres south of the main entrance to the beach.