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Court hears sordid details of high-profile Greens candidate’s alleged online kiddie-sex abuse

Greens candidate Jonathan Doig, now charged with child sex offences, was a keen supporter of the schoolkids' climate strikes.

Greens candidate Jonathan Doig, now charged with child sex offences, was a keen supporter of the schoolkids' climate strikes. Photo: facebook

A former Greens federal election candidate took an “active involvement” while a young girl in the Philippines exposed herself via a video cam, a court was told.

Jonathan Doig, 59, had his bail revoked in the NSW District Court on Friday and will await his sentencing in jail.

In 2019 Doig stood for the Greens against Prime Minister Scott Morrison in the seat of Cook, but was arrested in 2020 and accused of storing hundreds of child abuse images on his computer.

He has pleaded guilty to procuring a child for sexual activity outside Australia, possessing or controlling child abuse material using a carriage service, and using a carriage service to transmit child abuse material to himself.

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Prosecutor Danielle New told the court that Doig gestured for the girl “to lift her leg” and “tells her to come closer”.

She said that Doig displayed “active involvement when she exposes her vagina to him,” and he mobilised a video camera application to record her.

His defence submitted there was no metadata to assist Judge Gina O’Rourke regarding specific time references of the incriminating videos.

His June 2020 bail hearing was told that he had paid to watch and direct the live stream of a 13-year-old schoolgirl being abused in real time.

Sydney’s Central Local Court was then told how the software engineer had been conversing daily with the teenage victim since December 2019 until his arrest, and hundreds of videos had been exchanged.

Doig’s defence lawyer at his bail hearing said he would relinquish all electronic devices if released, and his wife was prepared to allow him to return home and would “monitor his conduct”.

Doig was previously banned from being alone with anyone under the age of 16 outside his direct family.

Two of the charges come with a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, while the other carries a maximum penalty of 10 years.

He will quarantine for two weeks due to COVID-19 restrictions while awaiting his sentence on December 17.

-AAP

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