One of the eight men accused of sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl has had his bail revoked after arriving late to a Perth court.
Alfred John Impicciatore, 45, is facing four charges of sexually penetrating a child aged between 13 and 16 but failed to appear in Joondalup Magistrates a Court on Friday as scheduled.
The court heard his lawyer had withdrawn from representing him and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
But later in the morning, Impicciatore arrived at court with a new lawyer, Stephen Butcher.
Police prosecutors claimed Impicciatore had breached his bail conditions by not residing at the listed address, citing his housemate as a witness who said he had not seen Impicciatore for six weeks.
But Mr Butcher claimed his client was still living there, just not spending every night at the house.
Mr Butcher tried to blame the media attention for Impicciatore not being home every night but the prosecutor said journalists only became aware of Impicciatore's case this week.
The court heard Impicciatore had strong ties to the community, was a builder who employed seven staff and was not a flight risk.
But the magistrate agreed with prosecutors that Impicciatore had breached his bail and revoked his freedom, saying the charges were very serious.
The girl's father, who cannot be named, is accused of being one of her abusers and allegedly organised for the other men to meet with her when she was aged 11 to 13.
The eight men face a total of 503 charges.
One of her abusers was allegedly in possession of 200,000 videos and four million child pornography images.
The girl is now in care and receiving treatment.
One of her abusers was Christian preacher David Volmer, 41, who pleaded guilty earlier this month to 12 charges.
The other accused men are 35-year-old Nicholas Adam Beer, 41-year-old Troy Phillip Milbourne, 42-year-old Ryan Trevor Clegg, 47-year-old Mark Wesley Liggins and 47-year-old Benjamin Simon Clarke.
West Australian police commissioner Karl O'Callaghan said this week that he could not remember a case like this in Western Australia, describing it as "really bizarre and really disturbing."
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