Uncle who is accused of using his own niece to film child porn also had sex with a minor under the age of 10, say police
An unidentified Australian man who was accused of using his niece to make child pornography has been hit with a fresh array of charges, including having sex with a minor under the age of 10.
The alleged pedophile, 37, from Marayong, Sydney, was arrested last year after the Australian Federal Police raided his house and discovered more than 180,000 images and eight videos of child abuse material on his computer. At the time he was charged with four offenses of using a carriage service to access child pornography and two of possessing child abuse material, Daily Mail reported.
Many of the abusive content featured his niece, whose age was not revealed. The police Down Under said that they had received tips from their US counterparts before raiding the man's home.
After further investigation into the man's misconduct and additional tip-offs from the United States Homeland Security, the suspect was hit with dozens of more charges including sexual intercourse with a person under 10, using a child under 14 to make child abuse material, inciting a child to perform a sexual act on another person and sexually touching a child under 10.
The man is set to face the Blacktown Local Court in May with 38 charges against him.
Authorities said that the additional charges were brought against the man after they scanned the child abuse material seized from his residence. The accused is reportedly one of the 16 people the Australian Federal Police arrested under Operation Walwa.
In 2018 a special task force was formed to crack down on those citizens who allegedly used a website which was known to be a place pedophiles frequented and paid to get access to child abuse content. For the mission, the Australian Federal Police’s Joint Anti Child Exploitation teams worked with the Australian Center to Counter Child Exploitation and state and territory officers.
As part of the Operation Walwa investigation, earlier this month, AFP released footage of detectives swooping in on another man's squalid dwelling in Maryborough, near Gympie, Queensland. That man was arrested and charged with three counts of possessing child exploitation material and using a carriage service to possess child porn. The camp dweller was one of those men arrested under the operation who was not accused of making child abuse material.
The investigation was launched after the US authorities discovered evidence of child abuse photos and videos being produced in Australia. The operation gradually spread across multiple states and territories as the police there continued to receive tips regarding the location of crimes occurring.
The videos and other abuse material would be distributed on an unnamed dark web marketplace. Through the operation, the police ended up saving four local children from further harm. Three of the alleged victims were from New South Wales and one was from Victoria. One of them was just two-months-old.
So far, the 16 people arrested face collective charges of 728 sexual abuse and child exploitation offenses. Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw has warned that due to the coronavirus lockdown there has been a surge in activity on the dark web, including sexual grooming and live-streaming child abuse videos.