David Allan Standing: Goonellabah man fronts court on child grooming charges

A Goonellabah man will have further digital material investigated as he fronts court on child grooming charges, including allegedly engaging in explicit conversations with a person he believed was a 14-year-old girl.

A Goonellabah man will have further digital material investigated as the child grooming case against him continues in court.

David Allan Standing, 60, did not appear via videolink or in person as his matters were heard before Lismore Local Court on Wednesday.

Mr Standing has been charged with two counts of using a carriage service to procure a child under 16 years for sexual activity and one charge of failing to comply with reporting obligations.

Mr Standing has yet to lodge formal pleas to the charges against him.

Police will allege officers attached to the Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad began engaging with Mr Standing in August 2021.

They will allege he believed he was speaking with a 14-year-old girl, involving explicit conversations and sending explicit material.

They will further allege he arranged to meet the “girl” for a sexual encounter.

He was arrested in Lennox Head just after 9am on September 13, 2021.

Commonwealth Department of Public Prosecutions Prosecutor Hamish Williams said he was seeking an adjournment for charge certification on Wednesday.

He added the prosecution was investigating some further content, including username information.

“There are some usernames (allegedly) directly related to the current offending which we are doing further investigation into but it shouldn’t take too much longer,” he said.

The matter was adjourned to February 2 for charge certification.