Suspended Port Augusta prison guard Ryan Stephen Burk, 38, charged with serious child-sex offences

A suspended SA prison guard faces a lengthy jail term for the alleged sexual exploitation of a child over a two-year period.

A former Port Augusta prison guard is facing time on the other side of the bars after he was charged with serious child sex offences.

Ryan Stephen Burk, 38, appeared in the Port Augusta Magistrates Court on Wednesday after he was charged with persistent sexual exploitation of a child and unlawful sexual intercourse.

It is alleged Burk committed the offence of persistent sexual exploitation between April 2007 and April 2009 at Port Augusta.

The offence of unlawful sexual intercourse with a child under the age of 17 is alleged to have occurred between January 31, 2008 and March 1, 2008 at Port Augusta.

Burk has been employed as a prison guard at the Port Augusta Prison since 2009.

A Department of Correctional Services spokesman said he was told to not attend work after they were notified of the charges on April 21.

“The person was directed to remain absent from the workplace with the intention to suspend on 22 April,” he said. “Suspension was confirmed on June 1.”

Ryan Burk leaves Port Augusta Court after being appearing charged with persistent exploitation of a child. Picture: Dean Martin/Advertiser

The former prison guard is charged with persistent exploitation of a child.

Defence counsel Alexander Hosking, for Burk, said the matter was likely to resolve and requested a four-week adjournment for negotiations to take place.

The matter was listed for mention only in September, with an answer charge date set for November.

The maximum penalty for persistent sexual exploitation of a child is imprisonment for life.

The charge of unlawful sexual intercourse with a child carries a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment.