Australian Roommates Allegedly Raped 10-Month-Old Baby Girl, Shared Video On The Internet
Two Australian roommates have been arrested and charged with a host of serious crimes following allegations that they raped a 10-month-old baby girl, filmed the crime, and then posted pictures and video of the assault on the internet.
Police are not releasing the names of either of the men, both 50.
As the Daily Telegraph reports, the rape occurred over a three-hour period in April 2015, when one of the men, the baby’s non-custodial father, was visiting her at her home in the city of Bathurst. One of the men — it is not clear if it was the baby’s father or his roommate — “incited” the sexual assault.
Two 50-year-old men charged with rape of 10-month-old baby girl https://t.co/QZtuFwgJaT via @MailOnline australia
— Andreas Baader (@stop1984) July 7, 2016
Authorities say one of the men had sex with the baby, recorded the assault on his cell phone, shared photos of the assault on the internet, and solicited further images of child pornography, among other charges. The second man is accused of the same crimes, as well as “inciting” the commission of the crime.
Detective Chief Inspector Peter Yeomans described the alleged crimes as “abhorrent.”
“The allegations that are made against these two men are abhorrent. The sexual assault, or alleged sexual assault, of a 10-month-old child is beyond belief.”
Yeomans also confirmed that the young victim, now two years old, is safe.
“The little girl is fine. She is in care at the moment.”
Police first became aware of the alleged crimes in March of this year when, in an unrelated case, police discovered child pornography images and videos on a suspect’s computer. Authorities were able to trace the video’s origin to the two roommates.
This is not the first major child pornography case to emerge from Australia.
Just last week, according to the Houston Chronicle, an undercover cop in Australia tipped off U.S. authorities to a Texas man, Mark Stutheit, who was later arrested on child pornography charges. The Australian law enforcement agent was working undercover in a child pornography chat room when he or she struck up a conversation with a user, allegedly Stutheit.
Mark Stutheit,teacher at Reinhardt Elem in Dallas, faces child porn charge in investigation that began in Australia pic.twitter.com/6SRQ25J5kX
— Diana Zoga (@DianaZogaFox4) June 30, 2016
Stutheit and the undercover Australian cop began exchanging emails. Stutheit allegedly requested that the undercover cop send child porn images to him, saying that he “once had nude images of children, but his hard drive crashed and he would have to spend time searching his back up to locate them.”
Following several communications, the undercover agent eventually honed in on Stutheit’s IP address and then traced the communication to a home in Fort Worth. Cops raided Stutheit’s home and found child pornography on his computers, tablets, phone, and Dropbox account.
In another Australian child pornography case, a 57-year-old man, whose name was not released, was arrested and charged with producing child pornography in the Philippines, according to ABC News Australia. Authorities say the man went to the Philippines in 2012 and 2015, where he took nude photos of two teenage girls and a pre-teen girl.
Police searched the man’s home and electronic devices and found over 2,700 images of child pornography.
His case was considered something of a landmark case in Australia because it marked the first time that an Australian national had been tried and convicted for producing child pornography outside of Australia.
The two Australian men accused of raping a baby and producing child pornography images and video of their alleged crime have been denied bail and will remain behind bars at least until their next court appearance,
[Image via Lisa S./Shutterstock]
