An Auckland executive has admitted receiving “commercial sexual services” from a person aged under 18.
The man, whose name is suppressed, appeared in the Auckland District Court on Thursday afternoon.
Judge Belinda Sellars, KC, granted defence lawyer Graeme Newell’s application to suppress the executive’s name temporarily and the name of his employer.
“His employer has just been advised about this.”
The employer would like to be heard about suppression at sentencing.
“If he is named then they are named if one does a quick Google search.”
The executive hadn’t yet told his family about the prosecution.
Newell said the executive was arrested on Friday and was facing three charges. After the guilty plea was entered, two other charges were withdrawn.
It had all happened quickly and the man wasn’t in control of the enormous “ripple effect” it would have on his life.
“He just needs some time to put his affairs in order and to give me more information about his family.”
At Newell’s request, the judge didn’t convict the executive.
The charge the man admitted was amended in court from one of receiving commercial sexual services from a person aged under 14, to receiving them from someone aged under 18.
The maximum sentence for that charge is seven years’ jail.
The two withdrawn charges were that, between October 11 and 29, the executive communicated with a girl aged under 16 with the intent of facilitating sex with a minor.
Over that same time period, he was accused of sending the same girl explicit messages over Snapchat.
The man appeared in a navy suit jacket over a dark T-shirt.
He had no offending history aside from a traffic matter several decades ago.
He was released on bail until sentencing in March.
The executive’s bail conditions require him to live at his home address and not to contact the victim. He can only associate with under 16s when supervised.
Judge Sellars ordered a pre-sentence report, which would cover all sentencing options available.
Outside court, the executive and his lawyer declined to comment.
rnz.co.nz
