BY JARROD MELMETH
Australian Federal Police have charged a Newcastle man for allegedly producing child abuse material.
Authorities say the material featured a child known to the man who was allegedly uploading the footage to an online chat platform.
A search warrant was executed at the man's Shortland home on Thursday after the AFP received a report from the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children. The report identified a Kik user who was uploading child abuse material to the platform.
A 24-year-old man was arrested at his home in Shortland, where police seized three mobile phones that will be subject to further forensic examination.
The child allegedly featuring in the material has been identified and is safe and police say they are providing support to the victim and their family.
The Shortland man was charged with eight offence including Five counts of producing child abuse material, Two counts of possessing of controlling child abuse material, Using a carriage service to access child abuse material and Using a carriage service to transmit child abuse material.
He will face Newcastle Local Court on Friday.
AFP acting Sergeant Damian Mair said when a child is in danger, or an extreme risk of abuse, investigators will do everything they can to quickly identify the victim and remove them from harm.
“Our child protection investigators across the country are always ready to focus their efforts to cases where we have information that a child is at immediate risk of being abused by an adult.
“When a child has been abused, our priority is to get them out of a dangerous situation, prevent an offender from committing more abuse, and then bring that person to account for their deplorable criminal acts,” acting Sergeant Mair said.
