Illawarra man refused bail over horrific allegations he chained up his disabled daughter
A Wollongong court has heard horrific allegations an Illawarra man chained his disabled daughter’s wrists together and put a sheet over her head while laughing with his mate.
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Horrific allegations of an Illawarra father chaining up his cognitively impaired daughter and taunting her with his mate have been aired in a Wollongong Court, after he was arrested by the state’s child abuse squad.
The 43-year-old, who can’t be named to protect the identity of his daughter, was arrested on Thursday, after a second-hand iPhone allegedly uncovered videos of him laughing at his teenage daughter, who was chained up with a sheet over her head.
The man was taken to Port Kembla Police Station where he 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.
He faced Port Kembla Local Court for the first time on Friday, where his application for bail was refused, due to the strong case against him.
In documents tendered to the court, police allege the man, and his ex-partner’s new boyfriend chained up the girl’s wrists and put a sheet over her head after she “became aggressive” with her older sister.
Her 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 new 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 in documents that the young girl’s wrists were bound with chains, with a long piece acting as a “dog leash” for the men to hold. It’s also alleged the men can be heard laughing at her.
In the second video, it’s alleged the girl can be seen kneeling on the floor, while her mother’s new partner 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, who allegedly admitted to police that he had previously used cable ties to restrain her wrists.
In court documents, police allege the man admitted his daughter “would have been emotionally distressed” during the ordeal but only did it because he was “playing along” with his mate.
The man was also charged with use carriage service to groom under 16 years for sex and use carriage service to send indecent material, after police allege they caught him sending messages of a “highly sexual nature” to what he thought was a 14-year-old girl, but was actually a police officer.
Magistrate Roger Clisdell refused the man’s bail at Port Kembla on Friday, noting he posed an unacceptable risk to the girl and the wider community, as well as the fact he was currently on an intensive corrections order for other matters.
The case will return to court in April.