Author of Misery: How SA’s elite detectives led a global effort to bring down Geoffrey William Moyle, aka ‘Waka’

He was among the world’s most wanted for 20 years, escaping even US authorities. This is the inside story of how SA’s elite detectives caught the originator of online child abuse.

In the most reprehensible corners of the dark web, no name was more infamous – nor more widely praised by the world’s worst pedophiles – than “Waka”.

One of the first criminals in history to upload child abuse videos to the internet, his homemade films formed the foundation of the syndicates that exist today.

Waka starred in each of his disgusting movies but never showed his face nor spoke – focusing instead on the pain and distress suffered by his many victims.

Stuffed with self-importance, Waka grouped his sick work into individually named “collections” swapped, by his thousands of adherents, with the fervour of sports cards.

His legend was so great that by 2010 – while being hunted by the US Department of Homeland Security – Waka’s devotees praised him for “writing the Bible on child abuse”.

For all his notoriety, Waka was finally brought to justice thanks to a crass online comment, a watch, a pair of shoes and a small growth on his inner thigh.

Those tiny clues allowed SA’s crack anti child abuse detectives to tie an Adelaide man to 15 years worth of perverse videos – and unmask the originator of online child exploitation.

AFP Sergeant Jonathon Coats and Detective Senior Constable Natalie Roesler from the SA JACET team. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

SCRAPING THE SURFACE

In May 2019, Australian Federal Police Detective Senior Constable Natalie Roesler was tasked to investigate Geoffrey William Moyle.

He had, from his Westbourne Park home, posted about his interest in “Asian girls” aged “between eight and 12” on a known pedophile website.

“It seemed like a run-of-the-mill job,” said Detective Roesler, part of SA’s Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team (JACET).

“We did a search of his home, we found a USB containing child exploitation material, he was arrested and bailed.

“There was nothing that stood out about him at that stage.”

Further checks revealed the unexpected – the name “Geoffrey Moyle” was included in a 2011 alert by Cambodian police and Homeland Security Investigation (HSI).

“My first thought was ‘there’s more to this than meets the eye, we’ve just scraped the surface’,” Detective Roesler said.

“That opened up a massive lot of lines of inquiry overseas, and I knew we were in for a hell of an investigation.”

The seemingly “run of the mill” arrest of Geoffrey William Moyle led JACET to identify him as one of the world’s most-wanted pedophiles.

PROOF OF PERVERSION

HSI had been fighting an ongoing battle with an online pedophile bulletin board, taking it off the internet only for it to spring back up again.

Investigators had arrested 72 of the board’s members but its biggest contributor – Waka, king of the “homemade section” – had escaped, leaving behind only an IP address.

That digital trail led to hotels in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where Waka had filmed the abuse of sex slaves kidnapped as children from Vietnam.

HSI suspected Waka’s real name was Geoffrey Moyle – and the man Detective Roesler had arrested was a foreign aid worker who had spent years working in Cambodia.

“The question was how do we identify that ‘our’ Geoffrey Moyle is ‘the’ Geoffrey Moyle?” she said.

“We knew it was him, we were sure of it, but obviously we had to prove it.”

JACET’s commander, Sergeant Jonathon Coats, said the once SA-centric investigation immediately became a global concern.

In Canberra, HSI’s Australian attache opened its files to JACET – that data was passed to victim identification expert Detective Brevet Sergeant Stephen Hegarty from SA Police.

He viewed Waka’s 15 years of “collections” looking for markers that could identify the girls he had abused, while the rest of JACET focused on the criminal himself.

“HSI had child exploitation material that Waka originally created between 2002 and 2005,” Sergeant Coats said.

“He was extremely conscious of his operational security – you never saw his face, he never talked, he was very careful about not being identified.”

SA Police Detective Brevet Sergeant Stephen Hegarty, left, with Sergeant Coats, played a pivotal role by identifying victims of “Waka”. Picture Sarah Reed.

MARKS OF A MONSTER

What JACET could see were freckles, veins and a “skin tag” or growth on the inside of Waka’s thigh, as well as a distinctive watch and a pair of shoes.

“When we searched the home of Moyle’s parents, we seized a photo album … it had photos of him in South-East Asia and Cambodia wearing those shoes,” Detective Roesler said.

“Other photos in that album showed him wearing the same wristwatch as Waka.”

One of Waka’s more sadistic tactics was to force his victims to hold the small remote control for his camera while he abused them.

“Moyle had that same small remote control in his hand in a photo taken at a family Christmas event back in Adelaide, while he was wearing a Christmas hat,” she said.

Geoffrey William Moyle wearing the same watch he sported while offending as “Waka”, the originator of online child exploitation. Picture: AFP

Moyle was ordered to take part in a forensic examination – his veins, freckles and skin tag were a perfect match for Waka.

“We knew all along that Moyle was Waka but it was an amazing, incredible feeling to know we had him, that he couldn’t say it wasn’t him,” she said.

“It was a good moment.”

Sadly, only three of Moyle’s six victims could be identified – but, with the assistance of an NGO in Cambodia, one of them was found.

Faced with overwhelming proof of his guilt, Moyle pleaded guilty, paid the now-adult victim $84,000 compensation and was on Friday jailed for nearly a decade.

But with time served taken into account, Moyle could be freed on parole in a little more than three years.

SACRIFICE AND VICTORY

JACET’s success came with a heavy toll – officers had been exposed to some of the worst, most degrading material ever posted online.

“For me personally, this job is set aside from others because a lot of times we don’t get to identify the victim – especially when they’re not in Australia,” Detective Roesler said.

“To be able to do so in this case makes me want to continue doing this job.”

Sergeant Coats said JACET’s “tenacity” and international network had allowed it to tie a man to 15-year-old crimes through data that was no longer in his personal possession.

“That shows this team will stop at absolutely nothing to effect maximum impact upon these criminals and seek justice for victims regardless of where they are,” he said.

“Waka had his syndicate, but we have one that’s even stronger – and we’ll work together to bring them to account and lock them up.”