James Robert Davis: Slavery charges against NSW ‘kinky sex overlord’ DROPPED

A ‘kinky sex overlord’ who was accused of keeping a slave has been hit with fresh charges of child porn and rape.

Detectives withdrew three charges of slavery against James Robert Davis in Central Local Court on Wednesday.

The 40-year-old maintained his innocence behind bars and denied any of his sexual partners had ever truly believed they were a ‘slave’.

His lawyer argued certain ‘kinky’ dynamics of a BDSM relationship, including ‘play contracts’ had been utilised in some of his relationships.   

But police have now hit Davis  with a host of new charges, some of which date back to 2004, involving a second complainant.

The fresh charges relate to allegations of possessing child pornography, animal cruelty, sexual intercourse without consent and assault. 

In light of the recent development, Daily Mail Australia understands Davis will make a new application for bail in the coming months. 

Davis missed the birth of his daughter this week after spending six months behind bars. 

He had hoped a magistrate would grant him bail back in June to witness the birth of his daughter, but it was determined that he posed too great a risk to the community.

His baby with ‘main’ girlfriend Charlotte Davis arrived this week, a little girl understood to be named Grace.  

Charlotte’s father Rod arrived at the farmstead she shares with Davis’ four other girlfriends in Armidale in the New South Wales Northern Tablelands from Laos a fortnight ago to help as the women settle into parenthood.

‘I’ve finally jumped through all the obstacles and am staying with my daughter and her friends on their farm,’ he said.

Baby Davis appeared ‘all good and healthy’ at the latest check ups and Charlotte suffered her first ‘trial labour’ on the night Rod arrived.

The new grandfather lamented the fact that his daughter would be forced to endure the birth without her partner, who remains in jail.

‘The hospital is in a red [Covid] zone so she can only have one person with her… Dad’s not even allowed to visit the baby,’ he said. 

Charlotte previously begged New South Wales Supreme Court to release Davis in an affidavit signed by the other women in the polyamorous BDSM relationship.

She swore to report Davis if he were to breach any of the proposed bail conditions, and said each of his girlfriends wanted him to come home.  

When discussing the birth of his grandchild, Rod referred to the other women in the coupling as ‘Charlotte’s friends’ rather than her romantic partners. 

Back in April, Charlotte told the court she and Davis had been dating for six years and were in a relationship with four other women; Sophie, Hanne, Hunter and Finlay.

She revealed they’d been trying to fall pregnant for three years before resorting to in virtro fertilisation treatments. 

Charlotte and her medical team were concerned the stress of Davis’ imprisonment could be damaging to her pregnancy, which was already considered ‘high risk’.

The women all contribute to household bills and expenses equally, and it is understood they will raise the child together, as a family.

When announcing the pregnancy online, she shared a photo of a custom made onesie which read: ‘Six mums are better than one’.  

‘After three years, three surgeries, two types of hormone therapy and one round of IVF, baby Davis is due early September,’ Charlotte said.

‘I am so over-the-moon happy, as are we all, and I’m so grateful for the love, patience and care all my partners have shown me throughout this process.’ 

Since that post, one of the girlfriends has left the relationship. 

Each of the five women who remain in a relationship with him told the court they’re in a consensual polyamorous BDSM relationship with each other. 

They all signed some form of slavery and servitude contract in which the ‘submissive’ agrees to ‘forfeit elements of [their] body, mind and will’.

In the contract, the ‘submissive’ agrees to display affection whenever required and engage in ‘predetermined kink events, kink related domestic and social activities, play parties and special days’. 

The woman signs over her sexuality and right to sexual gratification in the contract, which states that ‘all sexual gratification whether by myself or others is a privilege granted at the grace and pleasure of my Owner’. 

In total there are 20 clauses that a prospective ‘submissive’ must sign in the contract, which is reviewed first after three months and then renewed every six months.  

Davis maintains each of the women know the contracts are in no way legally binding, and merely form part of a ‘play acting’ dynamic in which they mimic slavery as part of their BDSM kinks.

He has maintained his innocence throughout all of the court proceedings. 

‘At no stage did my client exercise any real powers of ownership… There are aspects of play acting, affectations of slavery which do not amount to real slavery,’ defence barrister Ian Lloyd SC said. 

The women are all free to move as they please, and all five attend the University of New England, completing degrees ranging from law to nursing and mathematics. 

Davis was arrested in March and charged with possessing a slave, reducing a person to slavery and causing a person to remain in servitude after an AFP investigation and a 15-hour raid on his property near Armidale in the New South Wales Northern Tablelands.   

Davis had been accused of making a woman sign a contract to enter into slavery, forcing her to wear a steel collar and locking her in a cage for up to three days over a period of two years between 2013 and 2015. 

Each of the now-dropped charges carried a potential 25 year jail sentence.   

Mr Lloyd argued that each of the women were given collars upon signing their ‘play’ contract, and that they had access to Allen keys to unlock the collars whenever they needed.