A respected barrister who took his own life after being accused of being a paedophile wrote a law article with detailed instructions on how to groom children and discredit their evidence in court, along with a bizarre paper laden with foul language.
Mark Dennis SC, 60, died by suicide at his Leichhardt home on Monday, just weeks after he was arrested after stepping off a flight from Cambodia in Sydney in mid-January.
Australian Border Force officers confiscated his electronic devices and allegedly found the exploitation material along with sexualised conversations he was having with children, and about children.
He had been in Cambodia for his charity Reasonable Causes, which operated out of the impoverished nation and worked to improve the lives of locals from age six to 24 and give them access to tertiary education.
Dennis, who used the name 'Dark Menace' for his online profiles and professional email address, was granted bail and due to face the Downing Centre Local Court on Thursday.
He had not entered a plea, but court records indicate the matter was instead withdrawn on Thursday in light of his death.
The Daily Mail previously reported Dennis told mates that he had a goal of having sex with 100 virgins before he died.
It can now be revealed Dennis appeared to be hiding in plain sight, having published a series of questionable articles - including one about defending alleged child rapists, published on a paywalled PDF library.
Another paper published on a popular criminal law site in 2023 was called 'Dog Ae Cts, and discussed issues that could arise when defendants use profanities in court, and offers advice to legal professionals about how to deal with it.
Dennis was able to publish these articles without raising questions because it was his job as a barrister was to help defend alleged criminals in court, including accused paedophiles.
In the 21-page article about defending alleged child abusers, Dennis described the verbal and physical cues needed to gain a child's trust while they were being cross-examined about their alleged assault in local court.
He gave a series of examples, listed what not to do, and suggested cross-examiners watch a variety of popular children's television programs to better understand children and manipulate the situation to their advantage.
Dennis wrote: 'It will likely dawn on the child at this stage (if it hasn't already) that you are challenging them as to their truthfulness, reliability and credibility.
'A child who realises that you are not their friend is far less likely to be co-operative in any answers they care to give.'
He then referenced and quoted a number of historic matters from the Case Law, including one from 1991 that read: 'Children are entitled to grow up free of defilement by sexual predators.'
Another reference, from 1989, read: '[Sex] offenders should be severely punished, especially those who stand in a position of trust.'
He reiterated the same points about defending sexual predators in another published paper with a list of tips for new lawyers.
In that article, he used sexual assault against children as his primary example.
'Criminal trials are like pop music - every song has an underlying emotion (albeit sometimes a very simple emotion),' he wrote.
'An allegation of child sexual assault brings forth the emotion that child sexual assault is a putrid crime committed by deeply evil people.
'Defence practitioners should not lose touch with what ordinary citizens think about such matters (in the case of jury trials), nor forget that judicial officers are people too (in the case of magistrate or judge alone trials).'
Dennis was charged with one count of possess child abuse material using a carriage service, and two counts of using a carriage service to make child abuse material available.
His fourth charge was intentionally importing prohibited tier 2 goods without approval, which includes items such as child abuse material, weapons, steroids, chemicals, tobacco products, human body tissue, or counterfeit credit cards.
In 2022, Dennis was given a platform in the NSW Bar Association legal journal to speak about starting his foundation for young people, Reasonable Causes, after a visit to Cambodia in 2006.
He said he managed to juggle his charity work with his responsibilities as a barrister 'with difficulty', and added: 'I burn the candle at both ends, but it's a lot of fun.'
Dennis told the journal his 'philanthropy' was 'like a form of adrenaline' that gave him an immense feeling of satisfaction.
'You can't change the world, or even a country - but you can take a handful of individual lives and change those lives,' he said.
'And the feeling when you do, it's pretty incredible.'
Dennis travelled to Cambodia twice a year from 2010, telling the journal: 'I hadn't really been a philanthropist up until then; but I was at the point in my life where it was time to start.'
He would have had unfettered access to young children in orphanages and care facilities during his charity work in South East Asia.
In the journal interview, he spoke of a 'rock star' five-year-old boy who was living at an out-of-home care facility in the nation's capital Phnom Penh when Dennis was on one of his first trips to Cambodia in 2007.
Dennis told the journal he kept in contact with the boy and eventually offered him a scholarship to study at university through his charity.
When his matter appeared before Bail Court in January, prosecutor Jon Kisch said Dennis had chats with at least two people that allegedly revealed a sexual interest in children.
Mr Kisch also said the conversations showed a 'willingness to subvert' consent laws.
'There's a description of potentially a desire to rape a 16-year-old ... I appreciate that's as far as it goes, but certainly very disturbing chats,' he told the court.
Australian Border Force officials intercepted Dennis at the airport and searched his luggage following 'intelligence led screening'.
'The matter was reported to the AFP for further investigation,' the Australian Federal Police said in a statement on Wednesday.
'AFP members attended and on further examination of the device, identified alleged child abuse material and sexualised conversations with and about minors.'