Child psychiatrist faces New Zealand 'child exploitation' charges

Dr Aaron Voon outside Perth Magistrates Court where he appeared on multiple charges of possession of child exploitation material. Photo / PerthNow / Bohdan Warchomij

A Perth child psychiatrist accused of child pornography offences in Australia and Canada is now facing a similar charge arising from a New Zealand police investigation.

Dr Aaron Szen Yang Voon, 41, appeared in Perth Magistrates Court on Wednesday facing mulitple counts of possession of child exploitation material.

Dr Voon, recently charged in Canada with possession child pornography material, was arrested on his return to Western Australia after police allegedly found hundreds of images and videos on his electronic devices in June.

The court was told of a fresh charge relating to child exploitation material, which originated from New Zealand authorities.

Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutor lawyer Kate Gregory told the court the charge of "possessing, controlling, producing, distributing or obtaining child pornography material outside Australia" was referred to local authorities four weeks ago from New Zealand.

It is not known if, or when, Dr Voon travelled to New Zealand, or whether the allegations relate to photographs or vision of a New Zealand child in Western Australia.

Dr Voon, who has been granted bail, was remanded to appear again on September 9 as WA Police liaise with Canadian authorities over whether they will defer the charges from Canada to Western Australia.

It will be up to Canadian authorities in coming weeks to decide whether their charges against Dr Voon are handled by Western Australia courts.

Dr Voon was granted bail with strict conditions after his last court appearance on June 15.

During his previous appearance, the court was told 409 images and 12 videos were found on Dr Voon's computers or mobile phone and that many of the videos were of young boys being filmed urinating in public toilets.

In one instance, the court was told Dr Voon allegedly followed a boy from a theatre lobby into the toilet and filmed the child urinating "focusing on his genital area".

The Western Australia allegations come after Dr Voon was arrested and charged in the Canadian city of Edmonton in May, accused of filming a boy on his mobile phone in a shopping centre public toilet.

A Canadian court granted him bail and WA Police charged Dr Voon after his arrival back in Perth, following a joint operation with federal police that involved raids on his Mount Pleasant home and business and the seizure of a number of electronic devices.

Dr Voon's business, the Successful Development and Therapy Centre in Cockburn Central, was closed after his arrest in Canada and he has provided a voluntary undertaking to his professional body not to practise until further notice.

WA Police say no link has been established between the seized material and the children Dr Voon worked with.

Dr Voon's bail required he surrender his passport, stop working, post a $50,000 surety and similar undertaking and stay at least 100 metres away from any public place where children may frequent.

He was also banned from possessing any device capable of recording or receiving electronic messages.

- Perth Now