Connor Lyons at the 2019 Taiwan Open of Surfing. Photo: WSL
A 26-year-old Queensland surf coach indicated he intends to plead guilty to 29 different charges related to sexually abusing children. The various charges against Connor Lyons include 12 counts of indecently assaulting children and three counts of willful exposure, grooming, and others that include damaging evidence with intent.
“Connor Lyons advertises his business on Instagram as a safe place for parents to leave their children on school holidays,” 7News Brisbane reported when Lyons was first arrested in December of 2024. At the time, police charged Lyons with 12 various offenses. He was arrested again a week later with 14 new charges, and is now facing 29 charges involving four children starting in 2023.
Police alleged Lyons had filmed the abuse and had been rewatching the videos, which Lyons eventually admitted to doing. He accessed and deleted the material from his mother’s house. While the 29 charges are linked to a series of abuses starting in August 2023, a police prosecutor says Lyons first indecently dealt with or abused children in 2018, and Lyons admitted to police that he had accessed child pornography on the internet for more than a decade. Authorities are also urging the public to come forward with any additional information.
The most severe penalties among all the charges against Lyons reportedly brings a maximum sentence of 20 years.
Lyons competed on the Men’s Junior Tour in 2015 and 2016 and the WSL Qualifying Series beginning in 2016. His best result was an equal 17th as recent as the 2023 Clampify Great Lakes Pro. He reached number 48 in his region on the QS rankings in the 2022-2023 season.
