East Arnhem man allegedly uploaded child abuse material onto RedNote

An East Arnhem man accused of uploading child abuse material onto a Chinese app has applied for bail, with his lawyer calling the matter “extremely unusual”. What the court heard.

An East Arnhem man, who NT Police charged with child abuse offences, has appeared in Darwin Local Court.

A man accused of uploading child abuse material onto a Chinese social media platform was attempting to identify children stealing from a shop, a court has heard, with the defendant’s lawyer calling the matter “extremely unusual”.

Earlier this month, police received an anonymous complaint alleging the man had been distributing and possessing of child abuse material in the East Arnhem region.

On May 12, 2025, investigators travelled to the remote community and executed a search warrant on the alleged offender’s home.

The man was subsequently charged with transmitting child abuse material and six counts of possessing child abuse material.

On Friday afternoon, the defendant, who cannot be identified at this stage for legal reasons, applied for bail at Darwin Local Court.

The defendant, appearing by video link, was represented by lawyer Michael Drury, who maintained his client was “no risk” to the community.

“The girls in relation to the alleged child abuse material had come into the shop while he was working,” he said.

“They were saying disparaging things to him, they were also stealing Your Honour (and) he’s gone outside and filmed them to show to the store owner (and) identify the young girls that were stealing.

“One of the girls has inadvertently come into the frame and pulled her pants down with no prompting from my client.”

Mr Drury said his client “accepts and doesn’t deny” he shared the pictures at a later stage.

“Your Honour, he’s disseminated it onto what’s called RedNote – now that’s the equivalent of the Chinese Facebook,” he said.

“It wasn’t disseminated into any chat rooms, there were no comments (and) when it was disseminated emoji’s were put over the private parts of the young girl.”

The man has been granted bail. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

The court heard the accused had no criminal history.

“My client’s instructions are that he was purely trying to show his family the things that were happening to (him) while he was working,” he said.

“Naively, and unbeknownst to me, the material of that nature (was) posted – it is posted with innocuous other things and he’s had some recognition of its inappropriate nature.”

Details of the proposed bail plan were not shared to the court, however it was noted as being “extremely strong” by Mr Drury.

The prosecution did not oppose bail.

Judge Stephen Geary granted bail for the defendant, who will return in July for a preliminary examination mention.

Originally published as East Arnhem man allegedly uploaded child abuse material onto RedNote