Former ACT Attorney-General Gordon Ramsay was granted bail after he was handed his charge of grooming last year. Photo: Albert McKnight.
CONTENT WARNING: This article refers to alleged child abuse.
Former ACT Attorney-General Gordon Ramsay has been handed seven extra charges, mostly relating to alleged child abuse, after he was originally accused of grooming a teenage boy last year.
Court documents outlined the previous allegations against the Territory’s ex-top officer of the law, who was alleged to have groomed the boy between 2022 and 2024.
Among the accusations, Mr Ramsay is alleged to have bought the boy sex toys and suggested he take and share sexualised images of himself.
He entered a not guilty plea to a charge of grooming and has remained on bail since first appearing in court.
While the 61-year-old did not attend in person when the matter returned to the ACT Magistrates Court on Tuesday (16 June), the court heard prosecutors had laid new charges against him.
These charges were not read aloud to the courtroom, but Region confirmed they are three counts of using carriage service for child abuse material and two counts of committing an act of indecency on a young person under special care.
He has also been charged with single counts of possessing or controlling child abuse material using a carriage service and using a carriage service to menace, harass or offend.
The new charges are alleged to have been committed between 2023 and 2025 against the same teenage boy he is accused of grooming.
Mr Ramsay’s lawyer, Michael Kukulies-Smith of Kamy Saeedi Law, asked for a four-week adjournment to review the new charges as their time period differed from that of the grooming charge.
Magistrate Jane Campbell noted some charges were indictable and adjourned the matter to 15 July.
If a charge is indictable, it must be dealt with in the ACT Supreme Court.
The additional charges mean Mr Ramsay now faces a total of eight charges alleged to have been committed between 2022 and 2025.
If this story has raised any concerns for you, 1800RESPECT, the national 24-hour sexual assault, family and domestic violence counselling line, can be contacted on 1800 737 732. Help and support are also available through the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre on 02 6247 2525, the Domestic Violence Crisis Service ACT on 02 6280 0900, the Sexual Violence Legal Services on 6257 4377 and Lifeline on 13 11 14. In an emergency, call triple zero.
If you have been affected by sexual violence, or someone you know has, you can report it to police by attending a police station or phoning 131 444.