An Australian Federal Police employee said he had been hacked when his partner confronted him about inappropriate messages allegedly sent to her 11-year-old daughter, court documents tendered on Tuesday allege.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In the messages, the 49-year-old man allegedly asks to see the girl's "nude body"and tells her he liked her "very short skirt".
The Karabah man, who has not been named to protect the identity of the alleged victim, met the girl's mother on an online dating app and they developed a relationship, the documents say.
He worked for the Australian Federal Police, and the documents allege while he never said he was a sworn officer the woman believed he was from the stories he told.
He allegedly told the woman he had previously worked in monitoring the domestic and international travel of child sex offenders.
It's alleged the man contacted the 11-year-old girl on Instagram in December.
The documents say he made several attempts at initiating contact with her on the social media platform before she finally responded.
In April, the girl showed her mother a series of Instagram messages from the man's account. The messages allegedly said "I want to see your nude body" followed by another message "yes or no" and then a love heart emoji.
When the woman scrolled further back, she found more messages saying "Ok. Do you like being with me" and "I miss you. Can we chat without you telling your mum. I know you feel for me what I feel for you" and "I get the hint. If you don't hug me when i next walk in i delete you and leave you in peace".
The woman confronted the man about the messages and he told her the account had been hacked and recommended she delete all devices in her house, and that he planned on deleting his account.
She called him again in the presence of friends and recorded the phone call, in which he said again his account had been hacked.
They took photos of the message threads, and saw that several messages had already disappeared, including messages similar to "I liked your very short skirt" and "I liked holding your hand did you like holding my hand, I can't wait to do it again".
The woman reported the matter to police.
The man was arrested Monday and brought into the ACT Magistrates Court on Tuesday charged with child grooming and using a carriage service to menace, harass or intimidate.
Federal prosecutors opposed his release on bail, voicing fears he would contact the alleged victim and that he would interfere with evidence.
The prosecutor referred to multiple alleged victims.
But his defence lawyer pointed to the man's clean criminal history and his ties to Canberra. He said police had already seized the mobile phone and the man would agree to surrender any other electronics.
Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker granted the man conditional freedom on a list of strict bail conditions that included not contacting the alleged victims and not coming into the ACT except to attend court or legal advice.
Ms Walker set down the case to return to court on May 31.
The man did not enter pleas.
Acting ACT chief police officer Mark Walters said in a statement ACT Policing and the Australian Federal Police took any allegations of misconduct seriously, especially when the allegations related to vulnerable people.
He declined to comment further, given the matter was before the courts.
