Tuan Anh Ly charged with transmitting, soliciting vile child abuse material on social media

The court heard allegations the man traded in child sex videos on social media, some featuring children as young as 12 months old.

 

A Sydney man accused of trading child sex videos on social media allegedly requested others send him footage featuring babies and toddlers, a court has heard.

Police allege Tuan Anh Ly, 28, contacted more than a dozen people via the encrypted app Telegram between May and August last year in a bid to solicit the sickening material from like-minded users, allegedly telling one potential collaborator “little boys” were “so hot”.

Details of Ly’s alleged depravity were aired in the NSW Supreme Court earlier this month when he unsuccessfully sought release on bail.

According to court documents tendered during the proceedings, detectives attached to the NSW Police child exploitation unit raided Ly’s Marrickville home in June this year, six months after first receiving information about his alleged conduct.

Officers seized his mobile phone and two external hard drives, which underwent forensic examination.

Police will allege they discovered a trove of conversations between Ly and other Telegram users on his phone, as well as evidence of the exchange of more than 1000 videos.

In one communication, Ly allegedly asked “do you have any hot cp videos?”

Police will allege ‘CP’ is a common abbreviation for child pornography.

In another conversation, Ly allegedly asked the user to send him videos featuring only boys, because girls didn’t “turn him on”.

Another user allegedly urged Ly to trade his most “evil” videos.

Details of other alleged interactions are too graphic to print.

Meanwhile, police allegedly discovered hundreds of child abuse videos on the hard drives confiscated from Ly’s home.

Tuan Anh Ly was refused bail by the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Christian Gilles

The court heard the alleged victims in the videos range in age from 1 to 13.

Ly was arrested and charged with 12 counts of using a carriage service to transmit child abuse material, two counts of possess child abuse material and one count of using a carriage service to solicit children abuse material.

He was remanded in custody at the time, despite having no prior criminal history.

In his Supreme Court bail application, Ly’s legal team, led by barrister Rob Steward, said his client had migrated from Vietnam as a baby with his parents and three siblings and was an Australian citizen.

The court heard Ly’s sister, who had agreed to lodge a $20,000 surety to ensure he turned up to court, had provided an affidavit noting her brother had mental health issues and needed to be at liberty to look after his ailing mother.

Mr Steward said Ly would agree to abide by strict conditions if released from custody, including a ban on accessing the internet.

Prosecutors opposed Ly’s application, noting the case against him was strong and he faced jail time should he be convicted.

In refusing bail, Justice Stephen Rothman said he was concerned Ly posed an unacceptable risk of committing further offences if at liberty.

The case will return to court later this year.