Child porn offender sentenced

Home detention was imposed on a 46-year-old man who admitted having thousands of child sexual abuse files on his computer.

Christchurch District Court Judge Brian Callaghan told Colin Charles Wootton, when he sentenced him on 29 charges relating to possession or distribution of the images: "As an end user you became complicit in the sexual abuse of young children."

The material found on the computer - some of the files were available for sharing with other users - included bestiality, sexual abuse and sadism. The images mostly involved pre-pubescent girls.

"In at least two of the images, young children are very distressed," said the judge.

Crown prosecutor Marcus Zintl said some of the images were particularly disturbing and repugnant and it was a case where the crown believed home detention was not an appropriate sentence.

Defence counsel James Rapley said that Wootton was seen as a low risk of reoffending. His parents, whom he lived with, were in court. Since the offending was discovered, Wootton had done a year of psychological counselling and was willing to continue with the treatment at his own expense if required.

Judge Callaghan said Wootton had more than 3000 sexual abuse files - stills, videos, and stories - on his computer and had been looking at objectionable material for a long period.

He noted that Wootton had undergone treatment himself, was willing to do a Stop course for sex offenders, and was remorseful.

"Your parents and family have been horrified by your offending," he said.

Wootton appeared to be a sad person who had never been able to develop adult heterosexual relationships because of his personality and other factors during his childhood.

The judge imposed eight months of home detention with special conditions, 160 hours of community work with authorisation to convert some of the time to training, and ordered the destruction of the computer equipment used.

- NZPA