A 50-year-old man who hid out in Spain for three years avoiding charges for multiple sex offences against his stepdaughter is now in Canberra’s jail, after the ACT Magistrates Court refused to send him to a mental health facility.

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The man is charged with incest, rape, multiple acts of indecency, and capturing and controlling child abuse material, after police allegedly found 24,000 images on a camera hidden in the smoke detector in the child’s room.

The alleged offences were spread over several years, starting in 2018 until 2021 when a complaint was made to police.

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Today Prosecutor David Swan told the court the images allegedly showed the child in a state of undress, as well as the man climbing in the window.

Mr Swan told the court the man was allegedly caught when the child’s mother confronted him in her bedroom.

The man’s lawyer Amelie McCarthy told the court he was seeking an order to be taken to a mental health facility.

She said “he reports hallucinations” after he stopped taking his medication for schizophrenia.

But Mr Swan objected, saying “if he is placed in a mental health facility … there’s a significant risk of him absconding”.

Mr Swan said there were also fears of a risk to the alleged victim and her family.

Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker agreed, taking the unusual step of refusing to order the man be sent to a mental health facility.

“I have formed the view there’s a very significant risk of flight,” she said.

There was no application for bail, and the man was remanded in custody until next month.

Man arrested by Spanish authorities

An Interpol Red Notice

The arrest was made with the help of an Interpol Red Notice. (Supplied: Interpol)

Canberra police first heard the allegations against the man in 2021, but by then he had already fled to Spain.

Last year police presented the ACT Magistrates Court with a brief of evidence and the wheels of justice began to turn.

Police say they were helped by what is known as an “Interpol red notice” which saw the man arrested by Spanish authorities in September last year.

But it was only this week that the man could be extradited, after he gave up all avenues of appeal in the Spanish system.

The man was returned to Canberra with ACT police, before a brief appearance in a Sydney court, and extradition to Canberra.

Police say their investigation has also been helped by the Commonwealth Attorney General’s Department, and the AFP International Network and Specialist Operations Command.