A Gordonvale man charged with 121 historic child sex offences as part of Operation Tango Welsh has applied for bail in Cairns

A lawyer for a man facing a multitude of historic child sex offences has told a Cairns court he could be granted bail under strict conditions.

A Gordonvale man charged with 121 historical sex offences against children failed in his bid for bail in Cairns Magistrates Court.

The 68-year-old man, who according to law cannot be named until he is committed to stand trial, was charged by Cairns Child Protection and Investigation Unit (CPIU) detectives with 12 counts of rape, 80 counts of indecent treatment of a child, 19 counts of supply drug to minor and 10 further charges after his arrest at the weekend.

He was arrested as part of a police operation known as Tango Welsh and was denied police bail at the weekend.

The court was told the offences were committed between 1994 and 2016. Photo: iStock

The court heard the offences were allegedly committed in the Cairns region between 1994 and 2016.

Defence counsel Karen Longhurst submitted that bail might be granted on the condition that he not have contact with anyone under 16.

“(He) tells me he gets very few visitors to the house and he will gladly report to police once a week. I don’t think there will be any merit to a monitoring bracelet,” she said.

“He is paid by the government to care for his 99-year-old mother, and if he is banned from the Cairns area he will lose that Centrelink payment. He also cares for his disabled nephew, and there will be no one to care for his mother.”

Police prosecutor Stewart Clyde-Smith submitted that bail to his address be opposed.

“I very, very vehemently oppose the bail application and the Gordonvale address,” he told the court.

“I must very vehemently oppose the address as it’s where a lot of the offending has taken place. A lot of the victims are still living in Gordonvale and in Cairns.

“It is in my respectful submission that these witnesses, it’s certain they will see him, the address is the offending location for a lot of the offences.”

He said more addresses in Malanda, Gordonvale and elsewhere were allegedly where further offending had taken place.

“My submission is he should not be in the immediate Cairns area or in contact with anyone under the age of 18.”

After deliberating for some time, Magistrate Susan Warrington said she was satisfied there was an unacceptable risk of his committing further offences, and that she was unable to place satisfactory conditions on him to reduce that risk.

“I will be refusing bail,” she said.

The matter will be next heard on April 28 for a committal mention.

Originally published as A Gordonvale man charged with 121 historic child sex offences as part of Operation Tango Welsh has applied for bail in Cairns