South West Man charged over ‘20,000 images’

A South West man charged with possession of child exploitation material was found with 20,000 images and 1980 videos including images of his 11-year-old daughter and 14-year-old step daughter, a court has been told.

The man appeared in the Bunbury Magistrate’s Court on Friday to face a string of charges including carnal knowledge of an animal, possession and distribution of child exploitation material and possession of an indecent or obscene article.

The court was told that about 10-20 of these images were of his daughter and step daughter.

The co-accused South West woman faced the same charges earlier this year and was also released on bail.

Prosecuting Sgt Darren Clifton said the investigation had been ongoing.

“The two young girls had made complaints about this man to the police,” he said.

“Given this information that places this case in a different sphere.”

When releasing him on bail, Magistrate Robert Young said he did not consider the offences serious enough to warrant not granting bail.

“Commonly, the accused facing these cases are released on bail and I wouldn’t consider these offences here today too serious or as a reason for not granting bail,” he said.

The accused was released on protective bail with strict conditions including a $1000 surety, surrendering of his passport and he is to have no contact with both his daughter and step daughter.