Longest jail term to date in censorship case

14/10/2005

A Waikato man, David Malcolm Walker, today became the first person sentenced under the new, higher penalties in New Zealand’s amended censorship law.

In the Hamilton District Court Judge Cooper jailed Walker for three-and-a-half years for distributing electronic movies and pictures of children aged from three months to 13 years being sexually abused by adults and being sexually posed. Walker was also jailed for 18 months on possession charges. The sentences are to be served concurrently.

Judge Cooper described the images as vile and degrading of children and said that but for Walker’s early guilty plea he would have jailed him for five years.

Department of Internal Affairs’ Deputy Secretary Andrew Secker said that this case sadly illustrates a trend among New Zealand offenders.

“While we do not have evidence that more New Zealanders are collecting and distributing child sex abuse images,” Mr Secker said, “the nature of the images is getting much worse – the victims are becoming younger and the abuse more extreme.

“Walker’s collection included movies and pictures of adults inflicting appalling abuse on three-month-old babies.

“These are real children being videoed and photographed as adults abuse them, assault them and exploit them. Their suffering is recorded and then ‘shared’ through the Internet for the gratification of those who take pleasure form it.
“It is almost certainly impossible to delete all copies of the images once they are on the Internet. They are a permanent record that continues to harm the victims, haunting them in future years.

“Collectors and distributors of such material put more children at risk. Their demand for more images and more extreme images incites more abuse, and they spread the false message that sex with children is acceptable.

“The Department’s actions are not about pictures on a computer. They are part of New Zealand’s contribution to international efforts to help protect children from abuse.”

Summary of Walker’s offending

This case began in March this year when a Department Censorship Inspector was scanning users of the Internet software called KaZaa for people distributing or collecting child sex abuse images.

The Inspector detected a person who appeared to be a New Zealander making available pictures of girls aged from six to 12 years being sexually abused by men and being sexually posed.

The Department started an investigation, identified the person as Walker and tracked him to his home address in Gordonton, near Hamilton. In April Department Inspectors executed a search warrant on Walker’s home.

When interviewed Walker, said that he had been searching the Internet for child sex abuse images for two years, that he had got to a high level of trading, and that his collection included images of babies being sexually abused.

The Department’s analysis of Walker’s computer and CDs, found 1,012 electronic movies and 3,694 pictures of children aged from three months to 13 years being abused and sexually posed.

The Department charged Walker with seven distribution and 40 possession charges, which were representative of the total offending. Walker pleaded guilty to all charges and was sentenced today. He is a 44-year-old senior draughtsman with no prior convictions.

Films Videos and Publications Classification Amendment Act 2005

New Zealand’s censorship law, the Films Videos and Publications Classification Act 1993, prohibits possession, copying and distribution of child sex abuse images.

Parliament amended the Act this year, greatly increasing the penalties for offending that occurred after 21 February 2005. The penalties courts can impose are:

• for distribution and copying charges, a jail term of up to 10 years on an individual and a fine of up to $200,000 on an organisation (the penalties had been a jail term of up to one year or a fine of up to $20,000 on an individual and, for an organisation, a fine of up to $50,000)
• for possession charges, a jail term of up to five years or a fine of up to $50,000 on an individual and a fine of up to $100,000 on an organisation (the penalties had been fines of up to $2,000 for an individual, and up to $5,000 for an organisation).

NB: Under the Summary Proceedings Act if a defendant pleads guilty at a preliminary hearing before a trial has started, the maximum jail term a District Court can impose is five years.

All but one of the jail terms that had been imposed before today ranged from between three or four months to a year. In one case, in December 2002, an Auckland man who had made $20,000 by running the servers at the centre of an international child sex abuse images network linking at least 700 users around the world was jailed for two years and fined $19,000.


Media contact

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

Vince Cholewa
Communications Advisor Phone 04 495 9350, Cellular 027 272 4270