Alleged child sex offender Julian Moti has been remanded in custody after appearing in a Brisbane court.
The Australian lawyer was deported from Honiara last Thursday after being sacked as the Solomons attorney-general the previous weekend by new prime minister Derek Sikua.
Australian federal police officers arrested Moti, 42, at Brisbane airport soon after he arrived on a Solomons Airlines flight and charged him with engaging in sexual intercourse with a person under 16.
The charges were related to the alleged rape of a 13-year-old girl in Vanuatu in 1997.
Moti, who faced Brisbane magistrates court alongside a legal aid officer, had his case adjourned so he could find private legal representation last Friday.
He will reappear in the same court this Friday.
Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd has welcomed the deportation of Moti, saying the government had a “hardline” position on seeking justice concerning the alleged sex offender.
Rudd said he had expected the new government of the Solomon Islands to cooperate with Australian efforts to get Moti home.
“I appreciate the fact that the new government of the Solomons has moved early to return Moti to Australia – now these matters lie with the appropriate legal authorities within Australia,” he told reporters in Melbourne.
“On the substance of the matters, of course, I won’t comment because they now lie within Australian judicial processes.”