Former business tycoon Sir Ron Brierley is due to appear in court charged with alleged possession of child pornography. Video / David Fisher
Warning: Distressing content
Multi-millionaire Kiwi businessman Sir Ron Brierley will remain on bail in his luxury Sydney mansion over child pornography charges as a court heard police say they were only halfway through studying alleged abuse material on his computer.
The 82-year-old businessman, who is charged with six counts of possessing child abuse material, was not required to appear in Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court on Thursday.
A brief hearing before NSW Chief Magistrate Graeme Henson was told that police prosecutors needed more time to examine material allegedly found in Brierley's possession.
Last year police allege they found more than 200,000 images and 500 videos on his laptop and electronic storage devices, among which police allege was material "consistent with child abuse material".
Chief Magistrate Henson told the court that some urgency was warranted by prosecutors given the matter had been before the courts for close on six months.
"Given the nature of the defendant I suspect they'll be jumping up and down," he said.
Court documents seen by news.com.au reveal charges against the 82-year-old include possessing images and videos allegedly of "young girls aged between approximately two years to 15 years in sexually suggestive poses".
Two of the six counts of possessing child abuse material Brierley faces relates to "typed stories that spoke of the rape of children".
Brierley is currently on strict conditional bail living in his mansion at Sydney's most exclusive address, Wunulla Road, Point Piper.
His lawyer told the court in an earlier hearing that Brierley was intending to plead not guilty to the charges, however, no formal pleas have yet been entered.
Brierley, who is both a chairman or director of a number of companies in Australia, NZ and the UK, was stopped by Australian Border Force officers at Sydney International Airport on December 17.
Acting on a NSW Police travel alert after a six-month investigation sparked by a tip-off from a member of the public, detectives seized Brierley's carry-on luggage.
The businessman was taken to Mascot Police Station, charged and granted bail, which Registrar James Wiseman continued on Monday.
Sir Ron Brierley outside court earlier this year. Photo / Getty Images
Brierley, who emigrated to Australia from New Zealand in the 1980s, received a knighthood in 1988.
His firm Brierley Investments was once New Zealand's biggest company with stakes in Air New Zealand and the Paris department store, Galleries Lafayette.
Brierley has been a towering figure in New Zealand and Australia's business world for decades. It was only last year that Brierley relinquished roles in companies he had helped steer for years.
Brierley Investments was New Zealand's most influential company throughout most of the 1970s and 1980s, with one in every 20 New Zealanders owning shares.
His estimated $220m fortune was built through a keen eye for companies that were rich in assets yet poor in returns for investors. He built a reputation as a corporate raider who would descend of such companies with dramatic restructuring plans that returned strong profits.
Brierley's directors were a Who's Who of New Zealand business legend, including Sir Selwyn Cushing, current Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy, Sir Roger Douglas and Dame Fran Wilde.
Little is known about his personal life, although privately he is a keen stamp collector and avid train traveller.
He lives at the mansion Wunulla on Wunulla Rd, a tree-lined street with multimillion-dollar mansions and apartments with stunning harbour views.
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