International student Ziqi Wei – accused of sex with teen girl – granted bail to return to Canberra for uni studies

An international student charged with unlawful sexual intercourse allegedly snuck in to the girl’s school – after finding a school uniform to wear.

An accused child sex offender obtained a school uniform to give an underage girl a “burner phone”, a court has heard, as his family stands to lose $100,000 if he doesn’t return for his next appearance.

International student Ziqi Wei appeared in Adelaide Magistrates Court last Thursday charged with unlawful sexual intercourse intercourse with a person under the age of 17, seeking a bail variation. He has not entered a plea.

The court heard he was 18 when he was in a “relationship” with a schoolgirl he met online

She disclosed an alleged “sexual encounter” to her parents, a friend – and later police – and her parents took away her electronic devices.

The court heard Mr Wei knew where the girl’s class was when he attended her school in a student uniform.

Prosecution alleged Mr Wei then obtained a school uniform and dressed as a student to meet her and provide her with a “burner phone” and a PIN number as a way to contact him.

Andrew Ey, for Mr Wei, said his client admitted attending the girl’s school out of “extreme concern” for the girl’s welfare.

“After that trip he surrendered himself to the police in Murray Bridge,” Mr Ey said.

Mr Wei was applying to the court seeking a relaxation of his home detention bail conditions so he could return to Canberra to continue his Bachelor of Science at Australian National University.

The court heard his family would be prepared to offer a $100,000 cash surety to ensure he would return to SA to attend court.

Mr Ey said there would be a reduced risk of contact once he was out of the state and could report to Canberra police regularly.

Prosecutors told Chief Magistrate, Judge Mary-Louise Hribal they were opposed to the change because the girl was “concerned” for her safety and an investigator believed Mr Wei had been “monitoring” her through her devices.

The court heard data extracted from Mr Wei’s phone included images of the girl naked – which were under review – and various Google searches.

The searches allegedly included the age of consent, and the phrases “person losing their virginity,” and “how he can prove that two people had sex if they don’t say that they have”.

Mr Ey said his client “accepts” he made those searches as “age of consent varies both in Australia and in China, indeed if this occurred in China it would not be an offence, age of consent is 14”.

Judge Hribal agreed to vary Mr Wei’s bail to live across from the ANU campus in the Australian Capital Territory.

The matter will return to court in October.