Eight men have been charged with hundreds of child sex offences against a 13-year-old girl in Australia, including her father whom police alleged on Wednesday organised the horrific abuse over two years.
The paedophile ring was smashed last week when detectives in Western Australia arrested the men, aged between 35 and 47, after a tip-off from the public.
They face a total of 503 charges, including sexual penetration of a child under 13, stupefying the girl potentially with drugs or alcohol, sexual servitude, indecently recording abuse and distributing child exploitation material.
As an example of the nature of the alleged offences, police said one man alone was in possession of 200,000 videos and four million images, although they were not only of the Perth teenager. Around 150 pictures and videos were of the girl.
“It’s disgusting material. There’s no words to describe it,” Detective Superintendent Glenn Feeney told reporters in Perth, adding that the 13-year-old was rescued before the men were rounded up.
“The victim is now a 13-year-old child. At the time of the offences alleged she was between the ages of 11 and 13,” he said.
“She was rescued from this horrible situation she was in. She is safe, she is receiving the care that she requires and that will be an ongoing situation.”
The teenager was physically okay when taken away by police, “but psychologically, I can’t answer”, said Feeney.
