A 52-year-old Northland man has been jailed for two-and-a-half years for possessing child sex abuse material, saying he had been viewing objectionable content for around 20 years.
He had previously admitted in the Whangārei District Court to one representative charge of possessing objectionable material depicting the sexual exploitation and abuse of children.
It followed an investigation by the Department of Internal Affairs Te Tari Taiwhenua’s Digital Child Exploitation Team.
During the investigation, a May 2024 search warrant uncovered multiple electronic devices containing over 3000 objectionable videos and pictures covering victims of a wide range of age —from babies to people under the age of 16.
The man admitted to the offending and stated he had been viewing child sexual exploitation and bestiality material for 20 years due to a “morbid curiosity”.
As part of his sentence, the offender will be registered as a child sex offender and all electronic devices he used during the offending will be destroyed.
“Every time an offender shares or accesses an image or video of child abuse, they are continuing the abuse of that child and exacerbating the threat of child sexual exploitation” said Tim Houston, Manager Digital Child Exploitation Team.
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