Illawarra man granted bail after horrific allegations he chained up disabled girl with mate
An Illawarra man has been granted bail at Wollongong Local Court accused of horrific allegations he chained up a disabled girl and laughed at her with his mate, the girl’s father.
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A man allegedly caught on video helping an Illawarra father tie up his severely disabled daughter with a metal chain has been granted bail.
The 38-year-old, who can’t be named to protect the identity of the girl, was arrested on Sunday, several months after a second-hand iPhone allegedly uncovered videos of he and the girls’ dad laughing at her while she was chained up with a sheet over her head.
The man, who was in a relationship with the girl’s mother at the time, was charged with take/detain person in company, while the teenager’s father was charged with take/detain person in company with intent to obtain advantage, use carriage service to groom under 16 years for sex and use carriage service to send indecent material, after he was arrested by the child abuse squad in February.
The 38-year-old was granted bail at Wollongong Local Court on Monday, despite the prosecution arguing he abused his position of power and that “you wouldn’t expect a dog, let alone a girl, be treated this way”.
In documents tendered to the court, police allege the two men chained up the girl’s wrists and put a sheet over her head after she “became aggressive” with her older sister in December 2018.
The older sister, who witnessed the entire ordeal, began filming the two men, concerned for her little sister’s safety.
While filming, the girl’s older sister told the men her boyfriend was coming over to help, which allegedly prompted her mother’s boyfriend to kick the phone out of her hand.
Police allege in the documents that because the older girl was filming, the men released the younger girl in fear of the consequences.
The matter was never reported to the police. However, in November last year, the older girl sold her phone containing the recordings.
The buyer of the phone found three video clips on the phone allegedly depicting the horrific scenes and contacted the police.
In the first video, police allege the young girl’s wrists were bound with chains, with a long piece acting as a “dog leash” for the men to hold.
In the second video, it’s alleged the girl can be seen kneeling on the floor, while the 38-year-old man holds the chain “similar to that of a person commanding a dog to sit”.
Police identified the girl in the video and arrested her father in February, who allegedly admitted to police that he had previously used cable ties to restrain her wrists. He remains in custody and has been refused bail twice since his arrest.
On Monday, the court heard the 38-year-old man no longer had contact with the girl or her mother, and suffered from intellectual disabilities and ADHD.
Magistrate Jillian Kiely agreed to grant him bail, ordering he follow a strict curfew, report to police several times a week and that his mother pay a $1000 surety.
The matter will return to court next month.