Perth man Christopher Lobban accused of child porn offences extradited to US
Updated
West Australian man Christopher Lobban has arrived in Florida to face child pornography charges after losing a five-and-a-half-year battle to prevent his extradition.
Lobban, 59, has been in custody in Perth since he was arrested in July 2011 over allegations he encouraged a woman in Florida to post images on the internet of teenage girls being whipped and spanked.
The Mullaloo man maintains he did not know the images were of children and they were sent to him by his online girlfriend, Robin Pagoria.
The Sheriff of Polk County Florida, Grady Judd, has released a video of Lobban's arrival at the local jail after he landed in Florida late on Friday, local time.
Lobban is handcuffed and appears calm as officers pat him down.
Sheriff Judd praised the work of police in both countries in bringing Lobban to Florida, accusing him of being a "sadomasochistic child abuser".
"We will travel to the ends of the Earth if you have anything to do with physically, sexually abusing children, period," he said.
"Christopher, welcome to the United States."
Lobban allegedly encouraged Florida woman Robin Pagoria to upload images of herself whipping and spanking two teenage girls.
"He directed that these children would be stripped nude, handcuffed and tied and bent over this whipping bench, and then beaten," Sheriff Judd said.
Lobban's lawyer, prominent Canberra barrister Bernard Colleary, wanted Federal Justice Minister Michael Keenan to block the extradition, given Polk County's strict mandatory sentencing laws.
If convicted, Lobban could be jailed for at least 25 years.
"A mandatory prison sentence on a man that age for a low-end-spectrum offence of this nature is inhumane," Mr Colleary said.
"It's illiberal, it's not a feature of a liberal democratic country."
Topics: child-abuse, sexual-offences, crime, perth-6000, wa, united-states
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