Child-porn man gets 3 1/2 years

An internet child pornography offender found with pictures including "abhorrent and repugnant" images of a 3-month-old baby was yesterday sentenced under tough laws introduced by Parliament this year.

In February the maximum jail sentence for possession and distribution of internet pornography was increased from one year to 10 years.

The first person to be tried under the new law, David Malcolm Walker, 44, of Hamilton, was sentenced to 3 1/2 years' imprisonment yesterday at the Hamilton District Court.

During sentencing, Crown Prosecutor Jason Mackie said the nature and volume of the images had been described by an Internal Affairs investigator as the worst the department had seen.

Walker pleaded guilty to possessing pictures that included "abhorrent and repugnant" images of a 3-month-old baby, Mr Mackie said.

Walker officially faced 40 charges of possession and seven charges of distribution of objectionable material.

In April he was caught holding on his computer 3632 picture files and 442 movie files of children ranging in age from three months to 13 years.

All were either being sexually abused by adults or were posing to show their genitalia, the court was told. Some had been tied up, hung upside down, and sodomised or raped.

In passing his sentence, Judge Phillip Cooper said Walker was entitled to an 18-month discount on his term for his early guilty plea and a favourable pre-sentence report, which said he was at a low risk of re-offending.

Because the crime was the first to come under the new sentencing regime of the Films, Videos and Publications Classification Amendment Act, the judge referred to United Kingdom cases in passing sentence.

Judge Cooper said the sentence needed to reflect society's intolerance of such "vile" material and to send a message that deterred similar offending.

Defence counsel Douglas Hall asked the judge to impose a sentence that was "not so crushing" that Walker could not be rehabilitated.

Crown prosecutor Jason Mackie asked for a 3 1/2-year term, because Walker's offending totalled up to 500 hours on the internet.

Mr Mackie argued that Walker's crimes encouraged use by others and that there was a commercial element to the distribution, despite no money or transaction taking place.

Judge Cooper went further. By making the images freely available Walker did more harm than any financial transaction, which typically took place between two or three individuals, he said.

His sentence was hailed last night by Justice Minister Phil Goff, the Internal Affairs Department and Ecpat, an anti child-porn group.

Mr Goff said the outcome "sends a clear message that there is a strong abhorrence of anyone trading in images of child pornography and child abuse, and that such behaviour will not be tolerated."

He added the sentence showed judges were acting on the intent of the new legislation and were prepared to deliver much harsher penalties.

However, Ecpat director Alan Bell said 3 1/2 years was not enough.

"To allow an offender to escape the full weight of the law just because he pleads guilty ... is a let off," he said.

He added the sentence did not send the right message to people who might be tempted to offend in this practice of "degrading our children".

- Additional reporting by NZPA