Jailed for on-line sex abuse pictures

1 November 2012

A 73-year-old Christchurch man, who engaged in sexualised web-camera sessions with a local girl over more than three years, was jailed for three years in the Christchurch District Court today.

The man, who had masqueraded on Facebook as a teenage girl, appeared for sentence on 30 charges of making, distributing and possessing objectionable publications – images of young girls, including toddlers, being sexually abused.

United States’ authorities reported the posting of multiple objectionable images via Facebook last year and an Internal Affairs Department inspector established that the man had set up the Facebook account posing as a teenage girl.

The offender befriended an American male and a Christchurch teenage girl; sexualised video recordings of the teenager and of the American abusing his two-year-old daughter were found on the Christchurch man’s computer. The American, also talked about abusing an older daughter. He was arrested and his daughters “rescued”.

The girl told Department inspectors she felt “grossed out and dirty” knowing she had been exploited.

Judge Paul Kellar said the images were as bad as they could get. The duping of the Christchurch girl and the virtual procurement of offending was a distinguishing feature of the case. His risk of reoffending was high.

Regulatory Services General Manager, Maarten Quivooy said the case was a warning to people to be careful about who they “friend” and what they post on social networking sites.

“People need to know who they are talking to and to remember that once you post on-line it’s out of your control and you can’t get it back,” Maarten Quivooy said.

The case also showed how Internal Affairs and other agencies cross international boundaries to track offenders and rescue abused children.

Media contact:
Trevor Henry, senior communications adviser, Department of Internal Affairs
Ph 04 495 7211; cell 021 245 8642