South Korean woman, 29, accused of horrific child porn offences is allowed to leave Australia after a bureaucratic bungle

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A bureaucratic bungle led to the deportation of an alleged notorious female child pornographer before her trial.

Areum Lee, 29, is a Korean woman who faced charges in Australia over the alleged possession and distribution of child pornography material.

But an alleged bungle between the Northern Territory Police and the Australian Border Force led to Lee being deported back to her home country without facing any of the charges.

Areum Lee, 29, is a Korean woman who faced charges in Australia on two counts of possessing child abuse material and two counts of using a carriage service to make child abuse material available online

Lee came to Australia to work as an au pair but was arrested after a joint investigation by NT Police and the Border Force in November 2017.

She was charged with two counts of possessing child abuse material and two counts of using a carriage service to make child abuse material available online.

The pornographic material Lee allegedly possessed largely consisted of Category 6 child abuse material, which is material that may not feature a real child but is still considered child pornography under law. 

Some of the photos Lee allegedly possessed featured young boys in public places alongside grotesque captions such as her desire to see one of the boys raped.

Lee was in the country without a passport so the NT police needed to issue a Criminal Justice Stay Certificate which would have prevented Border Force from deporting her

She was granted bail on April 5, last year on the condition that she did not apply for a new passport as hers had expired while she was in police custody.

Since Lee was in the country without a passport, the NT police needed to issue a Criminal Justice Stay Certificate which would have prevented the Border Force from deporting her.

The NT police allegedly did not issue this document and Border Force had to deport her from the country under the Migration Act.

The NT police allegedly did not issue this document and Border Force had to deport her from the country under the Migration Act

A spokesperson from the Department of Home Affairs said that 'the Department is legally obliged to remove an unlawful non-citizen from Australia as soon as reasonably practicable, in accordance with section 198 of the Migration Act 1958.'

'The Department is committed to working collaboratively with law enforcement agencies to ensure that non-citizens who are required to remain in Australia for the purpose of criminal justice are lawfully able to do so.'

Detective Acting Superintendent Glenn Leafe from the Domestic Violence and Sex Crimes Division said in a statement that 'a person who is scheduled to appear in court has an obligation to attend on the scheduled day.'

'In relation to this particular case, a 29-year-old female failed to attend court on the scheduled day and as such, a warrant was issued for her arrest which will be executed should she return to Australia.'

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