A Mildura man has pleaded guilty to child exploitation and the transmission of child abuse material by encouraging a woman in Thailand to send him illegal content.
Key points:
- A 30-year-old man has pleaded guilty to child exploitation and transmitting child abuse material
- He encouraged a person in Thailand to source sexually violent content of children
- The court was told of disturbing conversations between the pair, discussing explicit acts involving young boys and girls
The County Court, sitting in Mildura, heard the images depicted violence against and the exploitation of prepubescent boys.
Arslan Safdar, 30, was 28 at the time he was messaging the woman, who was based in Thailand.
Prosecutor Michael Keks told the court Safda encouraged his contact to source sexually violent content of children, and promised to pay for the content.
“I want to see you with a really young guy or girl,” Safdar told the woman via a text message.
She responded: “You mean you want me to shoot a video with a boy or girl for you to watch?”
Safdar replied: “Yes.”
‘It shows the depravity of requests’
The prosecution said the case revolved around Safdar’s demands that the Thai person record the acts and transmit the footage of both boys and girls to him.
Judge Fiona Todd was provided evidence of conversations between Safdar and the person, detailing several transactions between them in 2021 and 2022.
“What I’m keen to do is to make clear that in our submission it does generally refer to the child, a young child, perhaps there was no age range in mind, but it shows the depravity of the requests,” Mr Keks told the court.
“The requests for multiple children was linked to the fact this was persistent.”
The defence’s submission was not made available to the media.
Awaiting sentence
The court heard that on June 16, 2022, Safdar arrived at Melbourne International Airport and was questioned by Australian Border Force (ABF) Officers, who examined his iPhone and laptop.
Thumbnails of videos depicting prepubescent boys engaged in explicit acts were found.
Further examination led to the discovery of incriminating Line Chat messages, prompting the involvement of the AFP.
Safdar acknowledged communicating with the woman, known as named ‘Phorn’, in Thailand through Line Chat, the court heard.
He also admitted to sending money to Thailand and engaging in conversations related to child exploitation.
He will be sentenced at a later date.