64-Year-Old Man Allegedly Abused 7 Children Over 27 Years, Faces 26 Charges

A 64-year-old man in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) was arrested this week for allegedly sexually abusing several children over 27 years, police said.

The unnamed Marks Point man was arrested at Swansea Monday morning with the assistance of the State Crime Command's child abuse and sex crimes squad. He is accused of sexually abusing seven children in the Lake Macquarie and Narrabri areas between 1993 and 2020, the NSW Police Force said in a statement released Tuesday.

All the victims were known to the elderly man, according to police.

The arrest followed "extensive inquiries" as well as an investigation by a team established by Lake Macquarie Police District detectives — Strike Force Friar — who started looking into the allegations in March, the statement said.

The man was taken to Belmont Police Station after his arrest and charged with 26 offenses, including 13 counts of indecent sexual assault with a victim under the age of 10 and three counts each of sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 10 and aggravated indecent assault.

He was also charged with indecent assault of a person under 16 years of age, committing an act of indecency with a person under 10 years, sexually touching another person without consent and two counts each of committing an act of indecency with a person under 16 years and carrying out a sexual act with another person without consent.

The man refused bail and appeared in Belmont Local Court on the day of his arrest, where he was formally refused bail to appear in the same court on Feb. 16.

In a similar story, a retired senior public servant in Australia paid poor Southeast Asian families to abuse their minor children as he watched the acts live online.

Ian Ralph Schapel, 67, engaged in 74 occasions of sexual activity with at least 13 children in the Philippines over platforms such as Skype and WhatsApp. He was also found to be in possession of more than 52,000 image and video files of child exploitation material.

Schapel, a former senior HR manager with the South Australian Department of Premier and Cabinet, paid AUD$30 ($22) on average for a live recording of his victims, who were aged between 3 and 9 years old.

The public servant of 45 years pleaded guilty to 50 offenses, including 41 counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child outside of Australia, using a carriage service to access child exploitation material and possessing child exploitation material.

Schapel also pleaded guilty to three counts of engaging in persistent sexual abuse of three children, using a carriage service to access child exploitation material and possessing child exploitation material.

He is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Paul Cuthbertson in February.