Wattle Grove: AFP charges Shayne Farah with child abuse material offences

A southwest Sydney man has been hit with a string of child abuse material charges after the Australian Federal Police received a tip-off from a US organisation.

Shayne Farah faces child abuse allegations.Picture: Facebook

A Wattle Grove man has been hit with a string of child abuse materials charges after the Australian Federal Police received a tip-off from a US organisation about a user sharing material on social media.

Former animal rescuer Shayne Farah, 52, faced Campbelltown Local Court on Thursday charged with possessing, soliciting and sending child abuse material.

The AFP child protection operations team charged him on February 13 and he fronted Liverpool Court later that day, before being remanded in custody.

The investigation began when the AFP-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) received a report from the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about an online user allegedly sharing material.

AFP investigators allegedly linked the man to the illegal online activity.

Shayne Farah is in custody. Picture: Facebook

A search of the man’s home the day he was charged led investigators to allegedly find child abuse material on electronic devices – several which were seized and underwent forensic examination.

Farah was charged with causing child abuse material to be transmitted to self using a carriage service, using a carriage service to transmit child abuse material, using a carriage service to solicit child abuse material and possessing child abuse material obtained or accessed using a carriage service.

The maximum penalty for each of these offences is 15 years’ imprisonment.

AFP Detective Superintendent Morgen Blunden said the charges demonstrated the force’s commitment to investigate and charge alleged offenders believed to be involved in illegal online activity relating to children.

Farah is behind bars remanded in custody and will face the NSW Supreme Court for a bail application on May 14. The case is then listed to return to Campbelltown Local Court on June 4.