A MAN will be sentenced later this year after admitting to using a young girl to produce child pornographic material in the Northern Tablelands.
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Magistrate Michael Holmes refused to suppress the case of Glenn Anthony Walker in Armidale Local Court after the 44-year-old pleaded guilty to almost 30 charges stemming from an investigation by the State Crime Command’s Child Exploitation Internet Unit.
Walker, who is being held in custody in Long Bay prison near Sydney, appeared via video link in court and sat with his arms crossed, mostly looking down at the floor.
“I can confirm we will be entering pleas of guilty,” Legal Aid solicitor Wendy McAuliffe said.
He pleaded guilty to 29 charges of using a child between 14 and 18 years for pornographic purpose, aggravated sexual and indecent assault and producing child abuse material.
I can confirm we will be entering pleas of guilty.
- Legal Aid solicitor Wendy McAuliffe
The court read through 57 charges, and was told 25 other similar offences would be taken into account in sentencing, along with charges of possessing a high-powered laser pointer and goods in personal custody, namely $9,100 in cash.
Some of the details of the case cannot be made public for legal reasons but the offences occurred when the victim was aged as young as 12 between 2001 and 2004 in the Northern Tablelands.
The investigation was launched in December, 2015, after information from the Australian Federal Police about the “peer to peer transfer videos related to child abuse material”.
The internet IP address was captured by authorities who homed in on Walker, who was arrested during a raid in Glen Innes.
According to facts tendered to the court, investigators located a DVD disc with the victim’s name as the title.
“Upon reviewing the files on the disc, investigators discovered 701 images of the accused engaged in various sexual activities with [the victim],” facts stated.
Upon reviewing the files on the disc, investigators discovered 701 images of the accused engaged in various sexual activities with [the victim].
- NSW Police facts
Police also seized electronic devices including an internal hard drive and four portable hard drives containing child abuse material.
Expert reviews of samples of videos on the devices “estimated the number of files containing child abuse material” to be more than 4,000.
He was committed for sentence to the Armidale District Court in May.
“Bail is not applied for, bail’s refused,” Mr Holmes told Walker.
“Alright,” he replied.