A MAN has been denied bail in a Tamworth court, after he was allegedly caught in an online sex abuse sting by detectives posing as a child.
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Andrew John Girard will stay behind bars until late July after a magistrate refused his bid for release in Tamworth Local Court on Friday morning.
Girard is accused of using a carriage service to transmit, publish or promote child abuse.
The 47-year-old was arrested during a police raid on a Moree home on Thursday morning by investigators from the state's Child Abuse and Sex Crime Squad's Child Exploitation Internet Unit (CEIU).
The CEIU detectives - working as part of Strike Force Trawler - began engaging with a man online in April this year.
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It's the detectives case that Girard believed he was speaking with an 11-year-old girl. They allege he engaged in sexually explicit conversations about acts he wished to perform on the child, in the presence of another child.
Detectives moved on Thursday morning, raiding the house and seizing a laptop. He was taken to Moree police station and questioned by detectives before being charged with the single allegation.
He spent two nights in custody and formally lodged his bid for bail in court on Friday, which was denied.
He was not required to enter a plea to the charge but detectives have been ordered to compile the brief of evidence in the case.
Magistrate Peter Thompson refused bail, and adjourned the case to Moree Local Court in July.
It was the second arrest in as many days in the North West by detectives from Strike Force Trawler.
On Wednesday, they pounced and arrested a 52-year-old man at Walgett, before raiding a home at Lightning Ridge. There they seized mobile phones and electronic storage devices.
The man was charged with using a carriage service to procure a child under 16 years for sexual activity, and three counts of using a carriage service to solicit child abuse material.
Detectives claim they started speaking to a man online in February.
They will allege the man believed he was speaking to a 13-year-old girl, and engaged in sexually explicit conversations about acts he wished to perform on the child, and sent sexually explicit material.
He was refused bail.
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Breanna Chillingworth
Northern Daily Leader Senior Crime and Court Reporter
Northern Daily Leader Senior Crime and Court Reporter
