A judge-turned-legal academic accused of inadvertently showing child abuse material during a lecture at a Melbourne university could be hit with more charges.
Justice Alan Boulton, 74, appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday via videolink on Friday where Crown prosecutors said police alleged they have found more child abuse material on an old VHS tape.
Prosecutors asked for more time to consider charges relating to the tape, and the case was adjourned for 10 weeks, the Daily Mail reported, and Justice Boulton’s bail was extended.
Last year Justice Boulton successfully challenged bail conditions requiring him to surrender his passport after convincing Magistrate Brett Sonnet he should be able to go on a holiday to Europe.
His lawyer the court her client had informed police about his travel plans before he was charged in August, spent a “serious amount of money” after they took no issue, months earlier had left Australia while under investigation and returning, and had been upfront with police.
Magistrate Sonnet cited Justice Boulton’s age and lack of criminal history in deciding not to impose a travel ban, saying his three other bail conditions – to remain at his residential address, not contact witnesses and inform police if he moves house – were “appropriate in all the circumstances”.
Victoria Police started an investigation after Justice Boulton allegedly inadvertently displayed the material in lecture at Monash University in February last year, and then raided his home in Middle Park and an address in Sydney, seizing electronic devices from both properties.
Monash University said after the charges were laid that Justice Boulton, who was teaching a course on international labour law, was immediately suspended and removed from all teaching duties after the incident, and that students who allegedly saw the material were being provided with support services.
“The safety and wellbeing of our students, staff and broader community remains our highest priority,” a spokesperson said.
Justice Boulton has a long and distinguished legal career, and in 1979 was appointed as the first-time legal officer of the Australian Council of Trade Unions by then-ACTU President Bob Hawke, who went on to be Prime Minister four years later.
He was also the President of the Industrial Relations Commission of Victoria, President of the Defence Force Remuneration Tribunal, was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2002, and is known as a collector of Chinese porcelain and 19th Century French Spelter lamps and statues.
According to an online profile he worked for the International Labour Organisation in Manila and Jakarta where he developed programs on child labour, industrial relations, and migrant workers.
Header image: Left, Justice Alan Boulton (Supplied). Right, Monash University (Monash).
The post Judge who allegedly showed child abuse material in lecture facing new charges first appeared on The Noticer.
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