source : the age
A Perth man who was planning to abduct a young girl and hold her captive inside his attic tried to stop authorities from entering his home during an early morning raid in mid-2024.
Jason Forbes, 39, had been waiting on the delivery of a custom-made child sex doll he had ordered online from China, when instead he woke to Australian Border Force officers at his door with a search warrant.
“He wasn’t expecting us, he was quite stunned,” ABF Inspector David Williamson said.
“The offender was initially resistant to let us into the home, but once we got into the premises, it was apparent why he didn’t want us in the premises.
“There was an electronic device displaying child abuse material on the kitchen bench, there was an additional (child sex) doll in the bedroom. We sighted the [abduction plot mind map written on the] mirror and were into the car.
“At that stage we immediately realised it was beyond the remit of the ABF, and we contacted our partner agency, [WA Police].”
During his sentencing last month, Perth District Court Judge Darren Renton said Forbes carefully selected the features he wanted on the doll, including the size, style, hair, eye colour, and the colour of its vagina and nipples.
“Simply said, you knew exactly what you wanted,” he said.
Williamson said 47 child-like sex dolls had been seized at the border by the ABF in the past year in Australia.
“There’s four individuals in WA currently being prosecuted for the importation of child-like sex dolls,” he said.
“Any individual that looks to import a child-like sex doll can expect that it will be detected and seized at the border, and that they will receive a visit from ourselves and our partner agencies.
“Our border targeting teams are quite adept and skilled at looking for subtle indicators that child-like sex dolls are contained in consignment.
“For example some of those suppliers will offer to split the parts over a number of consignments.”
WA Police sex crime division Detective Acting Superintendent Eamon Flanagan described Forbes as a “loner” who lived a “hermit-like lifestyle”.
The electrician was part-way through building a soundproof panic room in his attic where he intended to hold a young girl captive to sexually abuse her when he was arrested.
Evidence showed he had been planning an abduction for months, and had researched ways to approach, isolate and restrain a child. He had also begun scoping local daycare centres and schools in his southern suburb of Baldivis, and had blacked out the windows of his Tesla.
“Police intervention with ABF stopped a very dangerous situation from occurring in the WA community and stopped a child from being harmed,” Flanagan said.
“The reality is [an abduction] could have happened at any point, however, his planned intention probably would have required finishing the alterations he was doing to the house [in his attic].”
Flanagan said the parents of a child who lived near Forbes, who he had filmed playing out the front of her house, and then saved it in a folder labelled, ‘X marks the spot’, had been told she was a potential target.
“Obviously as a parent in Western Australia they would have been deeply concerned,” he said.
“Every child in Western Australia should be able to play in their front yard without fear of somebody potentially driving by and grabbing them.”
Detectives found more than 70,000 child exploitation material files on Forbes’ devices.
After his arrest, he admitted he had had a sexual interest in children for 20 years, but denied any intention to kidnap a girl, claiming her was just researching for a book he was writing.
He had no serious previous criminal record and had gone undetected by police, despite neighbours describing him as odd and antisocial.
“Community vigilance is very important to the work we do,” Flanagan said.
“We need help from the community in putting information report through to Crime Stoppers and local police if you identify suspicious activities in your neighbourhood.”
Forbes was sentenced to seven years and five months jail for possessing a child-like sex doll, using a carriage service to prepare to engage in sexual activity with a child, and possessing child exploitation material.
