Bairnsdale Sexual Offence and Child Abuse Investigation Team detectives have charged a man after executing search warrants at two Bairnsdale residential addresses yesterday.
Officers located and seized replicas including an AK-47 assault rifle, a Beretta handgun and a H&K MP7.
These search warrants relate to an ongoing investigation into child abuse materials.
A 24-year-old Bairnsdale male has been charged with:
• 4x possess imitation firearm
• access child abuse materials
• possess child abuse materials
• distribute child abuse materials
He was bailed to appear before Bairnsdale Magistrates’ Court on 22 June.
Note to media:
USE OF TERM ‘CHILD ABUSE’ MATERIAL, NOT ‘CHILD PORNOGRAPHY’
Use of the phrase “child pornography” benefits child sex abusers because it:
• indicates legitimacy and compliance on the part of the victim and therefore legality on the part of the abuser; and
• conjures images of children posing in ‘provocative’ positions, rather than suffering horrific abuse.
Every photograph captures an actual situation where a child has been abused. This is not “pornography”.
