Accused sex doll importer in court

A 30-YEAR-OLD Toowoomba man accused of importing a made-to-order child sex doll is to take his charges straight up to the higher court.

Paul James William Bateman appeared briefly before Toowoomba Magistrates Court yesterday on a charge of intentionally importing Tier 2 goods without approval (relating to the doll) as well as to charges of using a carriage service to access child pornography material and six counts of possessing child exploitation material.

He was not required to enter any pleas to the charges and stood quietly beside his lawyer Jon Wiedman (Hede Byrne and Hall Lawyers) during the brief mention of the matters in court.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Natalie Bugden told the court the case had to proceed to the District Court and asked for an adjournment so a registry committal could be done to facilitate that.

Magistrate Catherine Pirie remanded Bateman on bail and adjourned the case to later this month by which time the registry committal should have been done.

Bateman was one of five men in Queensland to be charged with importing the Chinese-made dolls which are life-like and weigh about 15kg and are about 100cm tall.

The arrests came as a result of raids by Australian Border Force agents late last year on residences in Toowoomba, North Queensland, Hervey Bay and Fortitude Valley.

Authorities claim the dolls, which cost about $1000, are life-like and can have their anatomy made-to-order.

If convicted of importing such material, offenders face up to 10 years in jail.