Prison warning: New Zealanders who distribute and collect child sex abuse images will be caught

22/9/2004

The imprisonment today of Invercargill man, sends a warning to New Zealanders who distribute or collect pictures and movies of children being sexually abused: if you choose to continue you will eventually be caught. He was sentenced to four months jail.

The Acting Director of the Department’s Gaming and Censorship Regulation Group, Peter Burke, said that in the last financial year (to 30 June 2004) 84 New Zealanders were prosecuted by the Department, Police and Customs for distributing or collecting objectionable material, the vast majority included child sex abuse images.

The man was using two forms of what are known as “peer-to-peer” applications to distribute and collect pictures and movies on the Internet. These included electronic movies of five-year-old girls being sexually abused by adult men.

Mr Burke said that a little over a year ago the Department became aware of New Zealander offenders using such software because they incorrectly believed that law enforcement agencies could not track them.

Eight of them have now been convicted, another 10 are before the courts and more are being investigated,” he said.

In this case on 19 August 2002 an overseas agency found a New Zealander using a peer-to-peer application to distribute and collect pictures and movies of children being sexually abused.

The information was passed on to the Department, which identified the New Zealander,and tracked him to his home in Invercargill.

On 22 October 2002 Department Inspectors executed a search warrant and seized his computer systems and CD-ROMs.

When interviewed during the search the man told the Inspectors that he knew what was on the computers, that he preferred young girls aged 11 and over, and that he got what he described as slight sexual stimulation from the files.

Analysis of the material seized revealed:

• On the computer systems, 48 movies and 22 pictures of children aged from five to 12 being sexually abused by adult men, being forced to perform sexual acts and being sexually posed
• On the CD-ROMs, 83 movies and pictures or similar abuse of children.

The Department prosecuted the accused, who pleaded guilty to nine charges relating to distribution of child sex abuse images and 22 charges of possession. He is a 30-year-old window cleaner.

He was sentenced under the Films Videos and Publications Classification Act, which provides for maximum penalties of one year imprisonment for distribution charges and fines for possession. An amendment, now before Parliament, would increase penalties to up to 10 years imprisonment for distribution and two years for possession.

Victims are real children

“The tragedy of offending like this is that these are pictures and movies of real children,” Mr Burke said.

“Collectors and distributors of such images incite the abuse of children. They demand more images, and more extreme images. They foster an international market that feeds on the degradation of children and they spread the false view that sex with children is acceptable.

“This is not about pictures on computers, it is part of this country’s commitment to helping keep children safe.”

Media contact:

Vincent Cholewa Phone 04 495 9350
Communications Advisor Cellular 027 272 4270