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Operation Arkstone: Sydney man arrested for
soliciting child abuse material
Mirage News
The Australian Federal Police has charged a 41-year-old Sydney man in connection to Operation Arkstone, which uncovered an Australian online network of alleged offenders accused of abusing children and sharing the abuse online.
The AFP-led investigation has so far resulted in 21 arrests in Australia, including 15 in NSW, on more than 1301 charges of child exploitation and bestiality, In addition, 55 child victims in Australia were identified and 11 animals were removed from harm.
Since the first Operation Arkstone arrest in February 2020, AFP investigators and forensic specialists have been examining the evidence from each arrest and identifying more alleged offenders linked to the network of online child sex offenders.
This ongoing investigation into the online network of alleged child sex offenders producing and sharing child abuse material with their peers on social media forums resulted in AFP officers executing a search warrant in the Sydney suburb of Surry Hills on Friday (17 September 2021), arresting a 41-year-old man for multiple child abuse-related offences.
AFP officers seized a laptop for further examination and a mobile phone allegedly containing videos of young children being sexually abused.
AFP Child Protection investigators and Digital Forensics specialists will allege they located instant messaging conversations on the man’s mobile phone about the abuse of young children, and details of an alleged payment for a person overseas to produce child abuse material under instruction from the man.
The 41-year-old Surry Hills man was charged with one count each of:
Using a carriage service to solicit child abuse material, contrary to section 474.22(1)(a)(iv) of the Criminal Code 1995 (Cth);
Possessing or controlling child abuse material obtained or accessed using a carriage service, contrary to section 474.22A of the Criminal Code 1995 (Cth);
Using a carriage service to access child abuse material, contrary to section 474.22(1)(a)(i) of the Criminal Code 1995 (Cth); and
Causing child abuse material to be transmitted to self using a carriage service, contrary to section 474.22(1)(a)(ii) of the Criminal Code 1995 (Cth).
The maximum penalty for each offence is 15 years’ imprisonment.
The man was refused police bail and scheduled to appear in Parramatta Local Court yesterday (18 September 2021). He is next due in court on 10 November 2021.
AFP Detective Sergeant Joel Wheeler said instant messaging applications and social media forums provide an easy avenue for child sex offenders to find and share child abuse material with their like-minded peers.
“The conversations and content produced and shared online about the abuse of young children is horrifically overwhelming,” Det. Sgt Wheeler said.
“AFP Child Protection officers and Digital Forensic specialists examine every conversation, video and image identified during a search warrant to find the child being abused and stop not only their direct abusers, but the other child sex offenders that fund this industry and help people profit from the atrocious end result.”
AFP investigators from Eastern Command Child Protection Operations arrested the first Operation Arkstone offender in February 2020, following a report to the AFP-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) from the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
Information provided by alleged offenders, as well as investigations conducted by the AFP and its partners throughout Operation Arkstone, identified links through online forums and messaging applications to alleged child sex offenders residing in Europe, Asia, United States, Canada and New Zealand, with 146 international referrals made.
Investigations into this network of child abuse are continuing.
Ausliesure indicates that this man is a senior executive in Australian Rugby.
Complaint made against northern Tasmanian councillor
alleging sexual misconduct
By investigative reporter Emily Baker, ABC
Posted 30 minutes ago
A women's sparkling diamond ring is clearly visible in this shot of a man and woman touching hands
The woman claims that the councillor had offered to help her get unpaid work taking photos with the council.(Pixabay)
A woman has accused a northern Tasmanian councillor of using his position to groom her for sex, in a complaint lodged with the local government watchdog.
The woman's complaint — accompanied by a statutory declaration — alleges she developed a relationship with the councillor after he added her on Facebook early last year.
The woman is a survivor of child sex abuse. Documents show the man helped her write her application for the National Redress Scheme, and she listed him as her support person for the process.
The complaint lodged with his council alleged: "He knew only too well that there was a pattern of men in positions of authority who had used their power to abuse me."
Relationship based on 'sexual fantasies'
The woman claims the councillor had offered to help her get unpaid work taking photos with the council and suggested she see a psychologist who she later found out was the councillor's personal friend.
But she wrote that she later realised the relationship was based around helping the man "live out his sexual fantasies".
"Early in June 2021, I realised that he had no intention of being a real friend, that he used me and promised me the chance of opportunities with [the council] that didn't exist," she said.
"I truly believe that he used his position as a councillor to develop a sexual relationship with myself and other women — this pattern of behaviour hurts women, like me.
"I feel disgusted, let down and betrayed. My self-esteem is at an extremely low point and as a survivor of sexual abuse, that's already low."
Her complaint was accepted by the council and is now with the Local Government Code of Conduct Panel for further assessment. It may be dismissed, investigated by the panel or referred elsewhere.
The ABC contacted the man but he declined to comment, saying he wanted to respect the complaint process and principles of natural justice.
Other women warn of councillor's alleged behaviour
Two other women have written to the council's mayor about the same man's alleged conduct in past years.
One of the women told the mayor that although she was only an acquaintance of the man, he allegedly became "very controlling and he exhibited very odd and irrational behaviour towards me, my family and friends" after she rejected his advances.
Her letter said he embarked on a seven-week campaign of cyber abuse after she broke off contact.
"I feel it is my right to speak up on behalf of all women who have been victims," the woman wrote, urging action. "Not only those who have recently come forward with strong allegations regarding [the councillor], but every woman who has been a victim of any kind of abuse."
Sexual assault support services:
1800 Respect national helpline: 1800 737 732
Lifeline (24 hour crisis line): 131 114
Beyond Blue: 1300 224 636
The letter was obtained by the councillor, whose lawyer sent the woman a cease-and-desist notice and threatened legal action if she continued on "this campaign of vitriol".
The second woman has written to the council again in support of the recent complainant. She said that after she tried to warn other women about the man on social media several years ago, he took out a restraining order.
"I hope you take this matter seriously and address this fully and appropriately," she wrote in her recent letter.
The government oversight body considering the complaint is expected to make an assessment on whether it should be pursued by mid-October.
Experts: Boys must report sexual abuse by women
JENSEN LA VENDE
19 HRS AGO
ON August 30, a 53-year-old housekeeper was put on $75,000 bail after she was charged with performing a sex act on a 13-year-old boy.
In 2014, the St Michael’s Home for Boys in Diego Martin was closed after revelations of sexual abuse, with one caregiver supposedly becoming pregnant by a child after taking him to her home.
Incidents of women being sexual predators against boys are greatly under-reported. In seeking to understand why, Sunday Newsday spoke with professionals who all shared a similar view that society accepts that boys abused by women are a rite of passage and not what it really is, sexual abuse.
One of the professionals spoken to was Marcus Kissoon, research assistant for Break The Silence, a non-governmental organisation stemming from the University of the West Indies Institute of Gender Development Studies, focusing on protecting children against sexual abuse and the risk of HIV.
Kissoon said the silence of boys abused particularly by older women is rooted in societal homophobia.
“Firstly, homophobia governs the silence of boys that have been abused, whether it is by women or by men.
"On one end, if a boy is abused by a man, he has to deal with the repercussions of his sexuality being in question. On a similar note, the same homophobia, if a boy is abused by a woman, also prevents him from telling his story."
This, he explained, is because "The same notion of masculinity...tells young boys that having sex with an older woman is an accomplishment, an accolade.”
So if the victim didn't enjoy it or feel proud of it, he's made to feel there's something wrong with him.
There is much more to this story at TnTNewsday.
Paedophile paid 12-year-old girl £50 to perform sexual act on him
By Thomas Molloy
Bolton and Bury reporter
08:14, 21 SEP 2021
A man has been jailed for eight years after being found guilty of raping a child.
Shaw Dennis, 40, met the 12-year-old girl when she asked him for a cigarette in December 2019.
They swapped phone numbers and started to exchange text messages, prosecution barrister Rachel Faux told Bolton Crown Court.
The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, asked Dennis, from Farnworth, how much money he would pay her if she performed a sexual act on him.
After agreeing a price of £50 to spend an hour with her, Dennis told the victim that he wanted to 'f*** her brains out'. It was shortly after this that she told him that she was still in high school.
Dennis responded: "Oh s***, I'm sorry".
The court heard that he then told the girl: "You don't look 12 but no one's going to find out so it's alright."
They met on the afternoon of December 31 and Dennis sexually abused the girl in his parked car.
An elderly woman interrupted the incident and Dennis dropped the victim off a short time later.
The girl's mother discovered the messages between Dennis and her daughter when she checked her phone in January 2020.
Dennis was 'aggressive and obstructive' while being arrested, Ms Faux told the court.
Bolton Crown Court (Image: Manchester Evening News)
In interview, he told police that he believed the girl to be 17 or 18-years-old and admitted to having sexual conversations, but denied any sexual activity taking place.
Following a trial, Dennis was found guilty of sexual communication with a child, sexual assault of a child under 13, and the rape of a child under 13.
In a victim impact statement, the girl said that she was lonely at the time of the offence and did not understand the risks involved.
She said that the incident has left her traumatised and that she has attempted suicide.
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