A West Australian man, 66, is expected to face Perth Magistrates Court today (24 February 2023) charged with possessing and accessing child abuse material online.
The Western Australia Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team (WA JACET), which comprises AFP and WA Police officers, charged the man after executing a search warrant at his home in Perth's southern suburbs on 20 January 2023.
It will be alleged in court the man had been sharing child abuse material via a Bit-Torrent P2P network.
Officers executing the search warrant at the man's home seized a laptop allegedly containing a large number of images and videos of child abuse material. The laptop is being subject to further forensic examination.
AFP Detective Sergeant Ross Hinscliff said anyone who accessed and viewed files of children being sexually abused was committing a crime.
"Children are not commodities to be used for the abhorrent gratification of sexual predators," he said.
"Our message to online offenders is very clear - if you procure, access and transmit child abuse material, we will find you and prosecute you."
The man was charged with:
- One count of possessing child abuse material in the form of data held in a data storage device, contrary to section 474.22(1)(a)(ii) of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth).
The maximum penalty for this offence is 15 years' imprisonment.
The AFP and its partners are committed to stopping child exploitation and abuse and the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation is driving a collaborative national approach to combatting child abuse.
The ACCCE brings together specialist expertise and skills in a central hub, supporting investigations into online child sexual exploitation and developing prevention strategies focused on creating a safer online environment.
Members of the public who have information about people involved in child abuse are urged to contact the ACCCE at www.accce.gov.au/report. If you know abuse is happening right now or a child is at risk, call police immediately on 000.
If you or someone you know is impacted by child sexual abuse and online exploitation, support services are available at www.accce.gov.au/support.
Research conducted by the ACCCE in 2020 revealed only about half of parents talked to their children about online safety. Advice and support for parents and carers about how they can help protect children online can be found at www.thinkuknow.org.au, an AFP-led education program designed to prevent online child sexual exploitation.
