Child porn addict ‘couldn’t control’ actions

• Published date: 25 April 2024
• Publication title: Mountain Scene

Cops say the defendant, aged in his 50s, used an online file-sharing platform to download the material between January 29 and May 7 last year

When his home was searched on May 16, police seized a laptop from his bedroom on which was found about 80,000 photos and 1300 videos of child porn.

About 500 images and 1200 movies were classified under UK sentencing guidelines as being of the worst type of material, including penetrative sexual activity, sadism and bestiality.

The defendant, who has permanent name suppression, denied the allegations for two months before admitting three charges of possessing objectionable publications (child sexual exploitation).

He told police he knew it was wrong, but ‘‘became obsessed and couldn’t control my actions’’. However, earlier this year he changed his story.

The man claimed he’d been working to ‘‘infiltrate and sabotage’’ the distribution of child porn on the dark web.

Summarising those claims at his sentencing in Queenstown’s court this week, Judge Russell Walker said the man had ‘‘stumbled across’’ child pornography and been ‘‘appalled’’ by what he saw.

He’d undertaken research in order to prepare a comprehensive report for authorities on how to combat it.

The work was ‘‘righteous and necessary’’, and none of the material he downloaded was for his personal sexual gratification.

That explanation, which the defendant hadn’t given to police after his arrest, was ‘‘fanciful’’, Walker said.

A forensic analyst couldn’t find any evidence of the claims, such as documents detailing...