A Marrakai man is in court for child abuse material possession charges
An elderly NT man has been charged for allegedly transmitting and possessing child abuse material and grooming a teen online.
Police & Courts
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A 72-year-old Marrakai man has been charged by the Australian Federal Police and NT Police for allegedly transmitting and possessing child abuse material and grooming a teenage girl online.
The rural Darwin resident was arrested on Monday evening following a search warrant at a home in Marrakai.
The arrest was the result of an investigation by the Australian Federal Police-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation Covert Online Engagement Unit.
Police allege the man transmitted, possessed and attempted to gain access to child abuse material online and also allegedly attempted to groom a teenage girl online.
AFP Detective Acting Superintendent Child Protection Operations Tim Puchala said it was important for parents and carers to be aware of the dangers that young people faced online.
“It is so important to ensure there is ongoing communication between you and your children, so they know they can approach you if something goes wrong,” Det A/Supt Puchala said.
NT Police Detective Senior Sergeant Paul Lawson said this sort of behaviour was completely reprehensible.
“This investigation shows the importance of multi-agency operations working together to identify and apprehend those in our community who pose a serious risk to the safety of the most vulnerable in our community,” he said.
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The man appeared in Darwin Local Court on Tuesday charged with using a carriage service to transmit a communication to a recipient who they believed to be under 16 years of age, which included material that is indecent, possessing child abuse material, in the form of data held in a computer or contained in a data storage device and using a carriage service to obtain or access the material, using a carriage service to transmit a communication to the recipient, being someone they believed to be under 16 years of age, with the intention of making it easier to procure the recipient to engage in sexual activity, using a carriage service to transmit a communication to the recipient with the intention of making it easier to procure a person to engage in sexual activity with someone who they believed to be under 16 years of age, producing child abuse material and engaging in that production with the intention that the material be used by another person and using a carriage service to engage in sexual activity with a person under 16 years of age.
The maximum penalty for these offences is 15 years’ imprisonment.
He has been remanded in custody to appear on 5 October, 2021.
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