A Chiltern man is facing up to 10 years in jail for allegedly importing a child sex doll from China.
The 52-year-old allegedly ordered the doll online to be delivered to his home, but it was intercepted by the Australian Border Force before that could happen.
A Department of Immigration and Border Protection spokeswoman told The Border Mail the package was discovered on February 7.
“Australian Border Force officers examined a consignment through air cargo from China with a declaration of ‘mannequin’,” she said. “The consignment was found to contain a child sex doll.”
The man tried to cancel the order after it was intercepted, but it was too late.
Wodonga police joined ABF officers to raid his Chiltern home on November 20.
The 52-year-old was charged with Customs Act offences, including importing child pornography, as well as Victorian state offences.
Wodonga Detective Senior Constable Justin Foots said police released him on bail just after midnight on February 21.
Four hours later, the man was injured while on foot in an incident near the Barnawartha overpass on the Hume Freeway.
He was airlifted to Melbourne with serious, but not life-threatening injuries, which forced him to miss his court appearance the next day.
The case was heard in his absence and the man will remain on bail until it was next heard in June.
“It’s not something I’ve seen before, but these sorts of things are easily procured from websites,” Detective Foots said.
The department spokeswoman said the ABF had detected 21 separate importations of child sex dolls since 2013 and the north-east case was one of four underway across the state.
“While investigations often begin with an interception of a child sex doll by ABF at the border, subsequent warrant activity often locates additional evidence of child exploitation which may result in more serious charges or further investigation by federal and state child protection squads,” she said.
“The ABF is seeing an increase in the attempted importation of child sex dolls.
“We believe this is largely due to the continued growth in internet purchasing and the increased availability of such items.”
The ABF has vowed to continue pursuing those who try to import child pornography, working with police to prosecute them and those who order the items.
“Objectionable goods includes material that describes, depicts, expresses or otherwise deals with matters of sex, drug misuse or addiction, crime, cruelty, violence or revolting or abhorrent phenomena in a way that would offend a reasonable adult - this includes dolls manufactured for a sexual purpose that depict a child,” the spokeswoman said.
