A top Sydney lawyer accused of indecently assaulting a university student on a coastal walk has had the charge dismissed.

Carl Harrap, 40, had pleaded not guilty to indecently assaulting a 20-year-old university student on the Clontarf Track in December last year.

In Manly Local Court on Friday, he testified that he 'collided' with the woman by accident on a narrow path as he tried to pass her.

Sydney lawyer Carl Harrap, 40, (pictured), who was accused of indecently assaulting a university student on a coastal walk, has had the charge dismissed

Mr Harrap (pictured right with his wife) pleaded not guilty to indecently assaulting a 20-year-old university student on the Clontarf Track in December last year

The woman told the court she was running up some stairs when she felt 'a grab from behind' between her legs.

'I turned around and looked at him and then he bolted,' she said.

Magistrate Christopher Longley dismissed the charge, saying there was doubt 'in terms of the totality of the evidence'.

The fact that Mr Harrap immediately ran from the scene was not evidence of guilt, he said.

The lawyer said he only ran away because the woman, who can't be named, was shouting 'what the f**k' repeatedly in an aggressive manner.

Mr Harrap's barrister Winston Terracini SC submitted that the stairs at the track were very narrow and often slippery.

The woman told the court she was running up some stairs when she felt 'a grab from behind' between her legs. Pictured are the shores of Sydney's Middle Harbour

The woman told the court: 'I turned around and looked at him and then he bolted'. Magistrate Christopher Longley said just because Mr Harrap ran from the scene it wasn't an admission of guilt

Leigh Amity told the court he and his wife found the distressed woman on the path after hearing her scream and she told him she had been touched by a jogger.

'She said "I've just been groped by a runner",' Mr Amity said.

Mr Amity then chased Mr Harrap down and brought him back to the scene, where the woman yelled at him 'you grabbed my f***ing vagina'.

Mr Harrap's lawyer told the court he ran away from the woman because she was repeatedly shouting 'what the f**k' in an aggressive manner

The woman testified she was in shock afterwards and told Mr Harrap 'you can't just do that'.

Mr Harrap, a senior partner at FPA Patent Attorneys in Sydney, was arrested a short time later.

A police officer present at the arrest told the court Mr Harrap had stumbled over his words when initially asked what had happened.

Mr Harrap had said he may have bumped into the woman and then reserved his right to silence.