Adam Bayard before court on 42 child exploitation material related charges arising from international police sting

NAMED: A 79-year-old Toowoomba man who was charged after an international police investigation into child abuse material sparked by the murders of two FBI agents has had his charges mentioned in court.

A 79-year-old Toowoomba man charged through an international police investigation into the use of child abuse material on the dark web has had his charges mentioned in the city’s Magistrates Court.

Adam Bayard was not required to be in court for the mention of his 42 charges but was represented by Toowoomba lawyer Claire Graham of Skuse Graham Lawyers.

Ms Graham said her client was in regular contact with her office and asked that his appearance be excused.

Mr Bayard has been charged with 29 counts of making child exploitation material, nine counts of possessing child exploitation material – hidden network/anonymising service, two of storage measures and other precautions about access to restricted items – locked container, and one count each of using a carriage service to access child abuse material, failing to correctly store explosives and breach of bail condition.

The 79-year-old’s charges were put before the Toowoomba Magistrates Court for the first time on Thursday, August 24, 2023.

He has not as yet been required to enter any pleas to the charges.

Mr Bayard was one of five Queensland men and 19 people Australia-wide charged as part of the Australian Federal Police co-ordinated Operation Bakis which investigated what police claimed to have been a sophisticated online child abuse network on the dark web.

Police claim members of the group used software to anonymously share files, chat on message boards and access websites within the network.

It was alleged network members were able to search for and distribute images and videos of child abuse material, and allegedly used encryption and other methods to avoid law enforcement detection.

The international investigation was sparked by the murders of two FBI special agents who were shot dead while executing a search warrant in Florida related to the child abuse network in 2021.

Ms Graham told the Toowoomba court on Thursday that her client’s case was going through the process of a registry committal to have all matters taken up to the higher court to be dealt with and asked for an adjournment so that process could be completed.

Magistrate Louise Shephard therefore remanded Mr Bayard on bail and adjourned the matters for mention back in the same court on September 14.