Melbourne dad found sharing child abuse material has case delayed
A Melbourne dad and sales technician with a major company who was caught sending sickening child abuse material to an international pedo ring has fronted court.
Melbourne City
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A father and former sales technician with a major international company who shared child abuse material and sickening fantasies with an international pedo ring has had his case delayed.
Mark Dekleuver, 44, fronted the County Court on April 30 for the second part of a plea hearing, after he pleaded guilty to 13 charges including possession and transmitting child abuse material.
In February the court heard investigators found 128 images and 28 videos in electronic devices after the Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team received a tip-off for Dekleuver’s online activity.
The former BASF sales technician uploaded and shared material to a Wickr chat group, where he shared “explicit” messages describing in detail how he wanted to violently and brutally rape a child.
After his 2022 arrest, Dekleuver told investigators he had multiple Wickr Pro accounts and that he knew his actions were wrong.
In those moments he would delete everything, only to re-download and activate the accounts again a few months later.
In February, Dekleuver’s lawyer Stephanie Joosten said he had been threatened by other group members, becoming entangled into “mind games” between individuals who requested specific images and the consequences of not sending them.
Dekleuver unsuccessfully applied for bail in 2023, where police expressed fear that he would delete evidence of his offending if he was released from custody.
The repulsive group chat on Wickr was subject to an international investigation at the time of Dekleuver’s arrest.
In court on Tuesday, Dekleuver appeared via video link from custody, wearing prison greens.
Ms Joosten asked the court for an adjournment in order for a risk assessment report to be completed for her client.
Judge Scott Johns agreed, ordering all parties to return for the completion of the guilty plea on June 12.
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