Former professional man jailed for having and sharing child exploitation material

Tuesday, 22 July 2025

A former professional man has been jailed for having and sharing child exploitation material.

He accepted he would not work in the profession again, even if he had been granted a discharge without conviction, as his lawyer asked in the Wellington District Court on Tuesday.

He wasn’t discharged. Instead Judge David Laurenson, KC, jailed the man for two years and three months.

He also suppressed the man’s name and identifying details, including his former occupation. The judge said the suppression would increase the chance of him rehabilitating successfully and that was in the public interest.

He suppressed the man’s former occupation so that suspicion would not fall on others, he said.

The judge said police and Department of Internal Affairs action discovered child exploitation material was being shared over an encrypted messaging service between a man in Auckland and the Wellington man.

Dozens of video or still images were involved over a five-month period, the judge said.

The Wellington man admitted preferring teenage boys around the age of 15 to 17, but would also look at child exploitation material involving infants.

He pleaded guilty to having objectionable material and sharing it.

The man had no previous convictions and had treatment since his arrest. The court had reports that the risk of reoffending was low and was likely to reduce further if the man had more treatment and a productive job.

Defence lawyer Hunter De Groot said that with treatment the man was a very different person today.

Police had opposed the man being discharged without conviction but did not oppose suppression of his name and details, prosecutor Joseph Corbett said.