Man accused of bestiality to be charged with alleged sexual assault of toddler

CONTENT WARNING: This article refers to alleged child and animal abuse.

The man accused of committing a bestiality offence earlier this year will also be charged with allegedly sexually assaulting a toddler, a court heard before he was refused bail.

The 26-year-old was accused of committing a bestiality offence on a friend’s cat in mid-February 2025, the ACT Magistrates Court heard when he began applying for bail.

He also allegedly possessed several photos or videos of animated child abuse material on his electronic devices.

When his bail application continued on Friday (21 March), the court heard he would soon be charged with allegedly raping a two or three-year-old toddler when he was 15, which will mean he legally cannot be named due to his age at the time.

In addition, when police reviewed his mobile phone last week, they allegedly found videos of a number of people at bus stops, with the focus on their buttocks.

The man’s bail application had been adjourned from earlier this month because Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker was concerned about the state of his mental health.

This was partly due to the nature of his sexual proclivities, given some of the “unusual views” attributed to him in court documents, she said.

However, a mental health report found he had no major mental illness, although he did suffer from depression.

Chief Magistrate Walker said he had no criminal history and had a supportive family interstate who would allow him to live with them.

But she also said it was alleged the man had engaged in criminal offending of a sexual type from when he was 15 that was not directed at a particular sex, species or age.

The chief magistrate said she was concerned about the chances of alleged offending against children or animals in the community.

She said the risk of harm from this sort of offending was “so great” and she refused bail.

Afterwards, the man’s lawyer, Edward Chen from Legal Aid, said his client would enter not guilty pleas to all charges.

The matter was adjourned to April.

The man currently faces single counts of bestiality and possessing child abuse and child exploitation material, as well as two counts of using a carriage service to access child abuse material.

The new charges, relating to him when he was 15, were not yet before the court and would be laid in the ACT Children’s Court in the future.

These charges will be sexual intercourse with a person under 10 and using a child to produce child exploitation material.

If this story has raised any concerns for you, 1800RESPECT, the national 24-hour sexual assault, family and domestic violence counselling line, can be contacted on 1800 737 732. Help and support are also available through the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre on 02 6247 2525, the Domestic Violence Crisis Service ACT 02 6280 0900, the Sexual Violence Legal Services on 6257 4377 and Lifeline on 13 11 14. In an emergency, call Triple Zero.