Source: Insideimaging.com.au.
AUSTRALIA – Sydney bondage photographer, Garth Knight, has been granted bail after spending almost a month in custody following his arrest for the alleged sexual assault of two models during photo shoots.
Knight, 48, was charged with sexual intercourse without consent and aggravated sexual assault, relating to alleged incidents occurring at a Surry Hills warehouse in 2005, and a Waterloo home in 2011.
He was initially denied bail after his arrest last month, but has now been granted a conditional release in return for a $480,000 bond, along with a series of conditions including being banned from any activity involving photographing nude persons or any women, or being present during any shoot involving a woman or naked person. According to The Australian, he must report daily to Redfern police station, and must not contact any woman who has modelled for him, with the exception of his partner.
Knight primarily uses photography to showcase installations he creates using humans and rope. He describes himself as a ‘sculpturalist’, who ‘photographs rope and bodies as sculptural forms’, using a Japanese erotic bondage tradition called Shibari. Both alleged victims were tied up at the time of the alleged assaults.
Police have been investigating the photographer since May, when a woman filed a report with Police regarding the alleged incident from 2005. A second report then came from a woman who alleged she was sexually assaulted during a photo shoot at a Waterloo home in 2011 when she was 33.
When Knight was initially denied bail his solicitor, Phillip Ryan, claimed the photographer had previous sexual contact with one claimant prior to the alleged incident, and had discussed engaging in sexual contact with other model prior to the photo shoot.
