logo
Sydney childcare worker charged with child abuse offences

Sydney childcare worker charged with child abuse offences

A Sydney childcare worker has been charged with abusing children, allegedly using them to create horrific content, but a court order prevents his identity from being revealed.
The man, who cannot be named under court order, was charged with seven counts of using a child to make abusive material – three counts were aggravated.
He was also charged with possessing child abuse data through a phone.
The man fronted Parramatta Local Court on Friday after being arrested by Australian Federal Police on Thursday, according to reporting by 10 News+.
Police had previously seized his electronic devices and arrested the married father at his own home.
He worked at an early childcare centre in Sydney, but it cannot be identified because a court order was put in place to prevent 'psychological harm' to his alleged victims – including those yet to be identified by detectives.
The AFP, in a statement, said they charged the Sydney man as part of an investigation into online child abuse material.
'The man came to police attention after the AFP-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation received a report regarding an online user who had allegedly uploaded child abuse material files to a cloud platform,' the AFP statement reads.
'There is no ongoing threat to the community.'
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Michael Furlong's killing: Son calls for stricter rules after Western Sydney dad's killer found not guilty by mental illness absconded
Michael Furlong's killing: Son calls for stricter rules after Western Sydney dad's killer found not guilty by mental illness absconded

News.com.au

time18 hours ago

  • News.com.au

Michael Furlong's killing: Son calls for stricter rules after Western Sydney dad's killer found not guilty by mental illness absconded

A man whose dad had his throat slashed by a random stranger is calling for killers to be forced to wear electronic ankle bracelets while walking amongst us in the community. Luke Furlong also wants people like his dad's killer, who was found not guilty on the grounds of mental illness, to have minimum terms set - just like in the criminal system. The police officers who helped catch Michael Furlong's killer agree wholeheartedly with Luke, saying lawmakers need to step up to better protect victims and their families. Luke was just a kid when a stranger slit his dad's throat on the side of the road outside an electronics store in Sydney's west. His dad didn't stand a chance, ambushed by a man who struck up a conversation pretending he had crashed into his car and damaged the bumper bar. But really, he was under the delusion that the much-loved Sydney dad was part of some AFP conspiracy to bug him and monitor his conversations. He sliced Mr Furlong's throat with a large Bowie knife, then chased after his brother who ran for his life. He returned to find Mr Furlong, who'd managed to stagger a few metres, collapsed at the steps of the electronics store. A few hours later, the killer was found asleep in a stolen car in Centennial Park. The blood-stained knife and Mr Furlong's wallet were inside. The killer was eventually found not guilty of murder on the grounds of mental illness. As if the ghastly killing wasn't enough, Luke and his family were thrown into a fresh hell five years ago when Mr Furlong's killer absconded from a facility in country NSW while on day release. They lived in fear for two days until police tracked him down at the Holiday Inn in Parramatta, more than, 200 kilometres away thanks to a tip-off from a hotel employee. Luke is demanding stricter rules for killers who are found not guilty on grounds of mental illness. He wants patients to be forced to wear ankle bracelets when on community release and believes there should be mandatory periods set - much like in the criminal system - for killers to remain detained before being allowed on day release. 'I think we have to trust the judiciary but there should be a mandatory period set because these killers are allowed out on day release within a few years but at the end of the day they have still taken a life,' he said. 'Every six months my family has to go through the emotion of knowing he will again be considered for changes to his conditions. You need to give the families time to get through the mourning, the loss but every six months they are hit with it too. 'We are lucky, we have had 23 years of him being locked up but in other cases killers are out on day release within a few years. And families every six months have to prepare themselves that that might be the case. 'It's not putting the victims first, it's putting the killers first.' Twenty-two years after his father's murder, Luke and his mum Colline met with the detectives who worked on Mr Furlong's murder - former detectives Scott Rogan and Peter Hogan, who co-host the True Crime Podcast Watching Two Detectives. 'The experience was really like no other. To finally sit and meet the men who put my father's killer behind bars and get the real facts about what happened that day from the men who worked effortlessly on the case was more healing than any therapy ever could be,' he said. The two former police officers agree the system favours killers over victims' families. 'I think having a minimum 10 to 15 year period is appropriate, then after that, once a killer applies for release and is denied, they shouldn't be allowed to apply again for another two years,' Mr Hogan said. 'Watching what Luke and his family have gone through, time and time again, having to prepare submissions for hearings and face the reality his dad's killer could walk free it's too much. It's unfair. Where is the justice?' Mr Rogan agreed, saying a mandatory period would also allow doctors and specialists to make sure treatment regimes are working. 'We need to do things that give peace of mind to families.' All agreed ankle bracelets are a 'no brainer' and a simple step to bring that assurance to families. 'My dad's killer was wandering out in the public and police can't even say please be on the lookout this person is a killer,' Luke said. 'At least if they had ankle bracelets, and they went where they shouldn't or stayed out when they should be back, why can't they have an alarm on them so they would at least alert the public that something is up. It might make them think twice.' 'This is not a popular thing to say but whether dad's killer was mentally fit at the time or not, whether all killers are, they need to understand what they did was wrong if they want to be out in society. 'I think part of their rehabilitation really needs to be that they really are made to understand what happened and the effects it has had on people's families, and they need to own it.' Parliamentary Secretary for Health Dr Michael Holland told NSW Parliament last year the Government does not support imposing a condition that forensic patients must be subject to electronic monitoring while absent. He said the system, in its current state, 'provides appropriate protections to the community' and the 'scale and application of electronic monitoring would be entirely new to the justice and forensic mental health system. It would require thorough analysis to understand the operational, legal and financial feasibility.' Minister for Mental Health Rose Jackson described Luke's story as 'heartbreaking'. 'No family should have to experience what his did, and I want to acknowledge their courage in continuing to speak out and push for change,' Ms Jackson said. The NSW Government introduced significant legislative reforms last year to strengthen protections for victims and the community, including stricter requirements and greater judicial oversight for those found not guilty by reason of mental illness. 'This includes greater scrutiny around decisions made relating to day release,' Ms Jackon said. 'The scale and application of electronic monitoring in this context would be entirely new to the justice and forensic mental health system. It raises complex legal, clinical and operational questions that would need careful and thorough analysis.' The Minister said the NSW Government 'remains committed to listening and to continuing the difficult but necessary work of strengthening our systems to protect victims and uphold community safety'.

How one of the most wanted men in the country pulled the strings in police sting
How one of the most wanted men in the country pulled the strings in police sting

ABC News

time18 hours ago

  • ABC News

How one of the most wanted men in the country pulled the strings in police sting

After 18 months of silence from authorities, fresh details of just how one of Australia's most wanted men allegedly duped his criminal associates into a police trap can be revealed. Hakan Ayik has been sitting in a Turkish prison awaiting trial since 2023 with no word on his role in what the Australian Federal Police (AFP) described as the country's biggest organised crime sting. Sydney-born Mr Ayik had led Australian law enforcement on a decade-long manhunt, avoiding capture for a series of alleged drug crimes, before his dramatic arrest in Istanbul. In the time since he fled to Türkiye over a decade ago, police had alleged Mr Ayik helped form the "Aussie cartel", a group of overseas-based Australian drug importers. It earned him a spot on NSW Police's "most wanted" list, where he remains to this day. Their intelligence on Mr Ayik came after he was unwittingly recruited into spreading a police-bugged app, called AN0M, into the underworld by the AFP. The joint AFP and FBI operation involved planting the devices into the hands of criminals and watching on as they used it to organise murders, drug shipments and beatings in Australia and abroad. No AN0M cases against anyone charged in Australia have ever revealed what, if any, link they had to Mr Ayik, deepening the mystery of who one senior law enforcement source described as a "Mr Big of the underworld". But a trove of court documents from the United States, released in recent months, reveal his alleged role in luring his mates into the police trap. As part of their investigation the AFP revealed how rival bikies and crime families would work together using AN0M to supply drugs all over Australia. In court documents from related AN0M cases in the United States, prosecutors described Mr Ayik as an "influencer" — a role that proved a profitable side hustle. In one filing referring to Mr Ayik under his AN0M username "Oscar", one of his associates described how all the profits from the sale of 100 devices would go straight to him. That transaction would earn him $75,000 in Bitcoin, according to court documents. The same underling, the documents said, would go on to discuss in messages on the device how Mr Ayik and the crew could start a "VIP service" for certain AN0M customers. Others paint the picture of Mr Ayik as being the go-to person for AN0M, who would go on to sell more than 12,000 devices as well as allegedly leading the Comanchero from overseas. The Comanchero are one of the most powerful bikie gangs in Australia, who suffered a power struggle during Sydney's recent gangland war. In another court document from the United States, an underling asks Mr Ayik: "Touching base with you in relation to AN0M device we prepared for client Tiger?" Another describes how Mr Ayik is alleged to have sent clients to those under him and how those clients "paid cash through a family member" of Mr Ayik. When news of the AN0M operation first broke, rumours from underworld and police sources purported Mr Ayik had fled for his safety to either Syria or Iraq. Two years later in 2023, 46-year-old Mr Ayik would be apprehended shirtless by Turkish police in a posh apartment belonging to him in the heart of Istanbul. Mr Ayik lived a life of luxury while on the run in Türkiye, though the alleged drug kingpin will likely never face justice down under. Among the lavish hotels, cars and businesses in Istanbul, Mr Ayik was far from going to ground while wanted for a raft of serious drug offences across the globe. Vast swathes of his wealth have now been seized by Turkish authorities who are prosecuting him for a series of alleged drug crimes and money laundering offences. If convicted he faces 262 years in prison. Mr Ayik was rumoured to be a billion-dollar bikie while posting flashy social media snaps on the run and estimates of his wealth ranged from $250 million to as high as $1 billion. The former Sydney bikie is also wanted on a racketeering indictment in the US and appears on watch lists for police authorities from Europe to Australia. After gaining Turkish citizenship while on the run it is unlikely he will be extradited anywhere due to Türkiye's laws of not handing over their own citizens. Mr Ayik's base in Istanbul included the hotel with a nod to his hometown, The Kings Cross Hotel, among his Turkish portfolio. Prosecutors in Türkiye allege he would use Apex World Tourism Investments as a money laundering vehicle under one of his well-known aliases "Hakan Reis", according to corporate filings. Another alleged proceed of what police claim is his global drug empire is a stake in a five-star resort in the Turkish beachside town of Alacati founded by him and a partner, corporate records state. The resort has never been revealed to be among Mr Ayik's business ventures before, and to this day it is still offering enviable beach views and a luxury stay for sun hungry tourists. It is unclear if it is among the seizures by Turkish authorities after Mr Ayik's arrest, though rooms at the highest rate currently go for more than $5,000 a night.

Fiji enthralled by the return of the Mara chiefly dynasty
Fiji enthralled by the return of the Mara chiefly dynasty

ABC News

timea day ago

  • ABC News

Fiji enthralled by the return of the Mara chiefly dynasty

On the program this week: Excitement in Fiji as Ratu Tevita Mara, son of the country's founding prime minister, becomes the high chief of the Lau islands in a series of sacred rituals over several days. Pressure on the International Seabed Authority to finalise regulations to govern deep-sea mining in international waters as the United States looks to forge ahead on its own. Tonga's government strengthens its cyber security capabilities after data at the country's largest hospital was hacked and encrypted for ransom. Australian Federal Police to be embedded with Fiji's police force to combat multinational drug syndicates using Pacific islands as smuggling staging points. And a partnership between the Australian and Papua New Guinean Defence Forces is helping PNG military pilots get their commercial pilots licences.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store