Kendall child sex case: Pleas loom for duo accused of more than 300 charges nearing

Lawyers for two Kendall men facing more than 400 child sex offences will negotiate their fates before a plea date in November.

Two Kendall men at the centre of one of Australia’s largest child sex cases have been instructed to enter pleas into more than 400 charges against them in November.

The two men, who can’t be named for legal reasons, had their matters brought before Port Macquarie Local Court on Friday for the final time before a plea date of November 18 was set.

One of the men appeared via audiovisual link from Long Bay Jail on Friday for the first time since his arrest in June 2020.

Operation Arkstone arrest of two men in Kendall in June. Pic AFP

Magistrate Georgina Darcy told the accused that the charges against him would now be negotiated between the Commonwealth Department of Public Prosecutions, and his lawyer, Emma Yasbek.

Both men have been in custody since June 2020, when police from Operation Arkstone swooped on their Kendall premises after a tip off from American intelligence authorities.

Both men who are at centre of one of the nation’s largest alleged child sex exploitation cases, accused of committing sexual abuse against 28 children, 16 of whom one of the men allegedly assaulted 46 times at a Mid-North Coast childcare centre.

Ms Darcy told one of the accused that it would now be up to the lawyers from all three parties to negotiate how the matters would proceed before a plea date on November 18.

“Mr [redacted] there are a large number of offences before the court,” she said.

“The matter has moved on to the next stage in the process, which is a case conference.

“It will involve lawyers from DPP meeting with your lawyers, and you will be available to provide instructions.

It is alleged the men where part of a larger syndicate of alleged child sex offenders. Pic AFP

“There are significant discounts for early pleas of guilty. There is a document that Ms Yasbek will make available to you … do you understand what I’ve said to you?”

“Yeah, you’re honour,” he replied.

Mr Hannaway’s client did not appear in court on Friday.

The alleged depraved acts of sexual violence and indecent assault against the children are part of a significant police case against the two men who were arrested by Australian Federal Police (AFP) officers in June 2020 as part of Operation Arkstone.

It is alleged that one of the men engaged in offending spanning more than nine years, at least one of which was when he was a worker at the childcare centre.

Court documents state that one of the men is alleged to have committed crimes against 16 children, ranging in ages between two and five.

Two men are facing more than 400 charges of child sex abuse. Pic AFP

Police allege he indecently assaulted the children up to 46 times. He is facing 303 charges, more than 100 of which relate to the alleged use of a child under 14 years of age to make child abuse material.

On at least one occasion in 2018, police will allege that he procured a child for the purpose of producing child abuse material. It is alleged that the child, who was under 10 years of age, performed a physical sexual act which was allegedly filmed.

The other man is facing 124 charges across 10 offence categories. More than 63 relate to having sexual intercourse with a child under 10 years of age.

Some of the children involved share the same surnames.

Operation Arkstone was launched in 2020 after a tip-off from the United States’ National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children to the AFP’s Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE). Electronic items, including a laptop, were also seized during the raids – which occurred just 1.3 kilometres, a few streets, from the Benaroon Drive house where William Tyrrell vanished in September 2014.

A number of other men from NSW, Queensland and Western Australia have previously been charged as part of Operation Arkstone.

The matter will return to Port Macquarie Local Court on November 18.