Campbell-Stenning used a Snapchat profile to communicate with another profile operated by a New Zealand detective. Photo / Getty Images
Campbell-Stenning used a Snapchat profile to communicate with another profile operated by a New Zealand detective. Photo / Getty Images
Warning: This article contains descriptions of sexual acts, which may offend some readers.
Registered sex offender Hamish Campbell-Stenning had no idea the 14-year-old girl he was chatting to online was actually an undercover police officer.
For four days, the 25-year-old used his Snapchat profile to communicate with the girl, including sending explicit photos, videos and messages.
The messages included asking her if she’d ever seen a penis, before sending a picture of his gentials with a suggestive message about what he was going to do to her in two years’ time.
The messages became more explicit as Campbell-Stenning told the victim he wanted to take her virginity before sending her another video and asking “do you think my d***’s a good size?”
At the time, Campbell-Stenning had been a registered sex offender for more than two years and wasn’t complying with reporting obligations that came with being on the register.
This week he appeared for sentencing in the Christchurch District Court on a charge of exposing a young person to indecent material and three of failing to comply with Child Sex Offender Register reporting obligations.
A summary of facts provided by Judge David Ruth outlined offending which stretched back to March 2021 when Campbell-Stenning was convicted of a relevant offence and automatically placed on the register.
Campbell-Stenning was required to report any usernames for online social networks, gaming accounts or storage accounts which he failed to do in June 2022 when he did not report a cellphone.
A subsequent examination of his cellphone revealed that since March 2022, he had been communicating with a 14-year-old female through the Snapchat application.
The female was contacted by police but did not wish to make a formal complaint.
Judge Ruth said Campbell-Stenning had shown no remorse.
Between November 17 and 21 in 2023 he used the same Snapchat profile to communicate with the officer who worked as part of the Online Child Exploitation Across New Zealand (Oceanz) team.
Campbell-Stenning was also required to make an annual periodic report for each year during his registration, including his residential address, cellphone numbers and all social media accounts he used or intended to use.
The offending continued into 2024 when he used a TikTok account in contravention of his obligations.
The account had been created in 2021 using his primary email address and he had accessed it on January 25, 2024, without reporting it, as he was obligated.
Around the same time, he told authorities in his annual periodic report he did not have a cellphone.
By March he had failed to report a change in his residential address while the Ministry of Social Development advised police he did in fact have a cellphone.
Judge Ruth said Campbell-Stenning had indecently assaulted a female under the age of 12 in 2021 and at the time he considered the offending to be “no big deal”.
The judge said Campbell-Stenning was assessed as being of high risk and there was concern.
The court heard he had spent time in state care and had children with three women, two of whom were in state care.
Defence lawyer Dave Simpson said Campbell-Stenning had no residential address but had spoken with the Salvation Army about undertaking a residential programme.
He suggested a sentence of 11 months with leave to apply for the residential programme.
Campbell-Stenning had been in custody since November.
“In terms of his offending, he was not in touch with a counsellor and slipped into meth use.
“He is only 25 years old and needs to re-engage with counsellors to address underlying offending.”
Judge Ruth sentenced Campbell-Stenning to 11 months with leave to apply for home detention.
Campbell-Stenning was ordered to attend and complete a programme to address the offending, not associate with anyone under 16, not possess electronic devices, not to possess or consume alcohol, and not to contact any victims of his offending, including previous offending.
Al Williams is an Open Justice reporter for the New Zealand Herald, based in Christchurch. He has worked in daily and community titles in New Zealand and overseas for the last 16 years. Most recently he was editor of the Hauraki-Coromandel Post, based in Whangamatā. He was previously deputy editor of the Cook Islands News.
