Computer repair company helps convict collector of sex pictures of young children

26/9/2005

Information from an Auckland computer company has led to the conviction of Auckland man, for collecting pictures of children being forced to perform sex acts and being sexually posed.

In the North Shore District Court today Judge David Wilson QC sentenced him to pay court costs, solicitor fees and $250 per charge – a sum totalling $1480.

Judge Wilson said that the recording of the images inevitably involved the abuse of the children pictured.

Department of Internal Affair’s Deputy Secretary Andrew Secker praised the actions of the company.

“Receiving information from the public is an important part of all law enforcement work,” Mr Secker said.

“There is a common misconception that reporting a possible crime is a breach of privacy laws. It is not.

“If you see a burglary and report it to the Police you are acting as a responsible citizen and are helping protect someone’s property. If you find information about movies or pictures of children being sexually abused or sexually posed and you report that, then you are being a responsible member of the community by helping protect children.”

The Department always treat complainants’ identities as confidential and does not release their names. It will not name the computer repair company.

In this case, in August 2004 the company reported finding what it thought might be objectionable material on a computer brought in to it by the defendant.

A Department Inspector examined the computer and found 17 pictures of girls aged from 10 to 12 years being sexually posed and having been made to perform sexual acts. The man had kept the images on the computer’s desktop.

The Inspector also found a history of frequent use of the Internet to find, view and then delete images of child pornography.

When interviewed, he admitted being a frequent user of pornographic websites and that he had viewed and deleted sex abuse images of children ranging in age from female infants to teenage girls and boys.

He also said that the images must have got onto his computer by accident. Forensic evidence showed this claim was not correct.

The Department prosecuted the man, who pleaded guilty to six representative possession charges. He is a 66-year-old journalist.

Background

The man's offending occurred before Parliament amended the Films Videos and Publications Classification Act, greatly increasing the penalties for possessing and distributing child sex abuse images.

At the time of his offending penalties were:

• for possession, fines of up to $2,000 per charge
• for distribution, fines of up to $20,000 on an individual or up to $50,000 on an organisation, or jail terms of up to 1 year on an individual.

For offending that occurred after 21 February 2005 the penalties are:

• for possession, a jail term of up to five years or fines of up to $50,000
• for distribution, a jail term of up to 10 years on an individual and fines of up to $200,000 on an organisation.

Media contact:

Andrew Secker
Deputy Secretary Phone 04 495 9329, Cellular 027 281 5211

Ronnie Anderson
Communications Advisor Phone 04 494 0570, Cellular 027 471 9464