The son of a Queensland MP will spend Christmas in prison after prosecutors revealed he would face fresh charges relating to alleged child exploitation.
Daniel Knuth, the son of state member for Hill Shane Knuth, was due to face Townsville District Court on Wednesday on a charge of possessing child exploitation material after he was arrested in 2021.
The court was told that Knuth, 25, was convicted over child exploitation material offences in 2019 and given a suspended sentence.
The prosecutor told the court that Knuth was arrested in 2021 after police allegedly found evidence he had reoffended while on probation and has been in custody since October last year.
He had been expected to face court on the child exploitation charge and four counts of failure to comply with reporting, but the court was told the hearing was being "vacated" as police had informed the Department of Public Prosecutions Knuth would soon be charged with "further, highly relevant charges".
"This offending currently before the court was detected as part of a routine compliance check, his device was examined, and evidence of child exploitation material was detected," prosecutor Jack Toohey told the court.
"About a month later police returned to arrest and charge the defendant, they discovered he had an additional device and examination of that device also revealed evidence of child exploitation material offending."
The District Court heard police had taken 13 months to download information from the second phone.
Defence lawyer Helen Armitage said she was frustrated the matter had been delayed and charges had not been brought sooner.
Ms Armitage said her primary concern was delays within the parole system, as Knuth has not been given a parole eligibility date.
Mr Toohey told the court police expected to finalise the additional charges against Knuth within four weeks.
The matter will return to court on January 25.
