Christchurch man sentenced for possession of child sexual abuse publications

The man was today sentenced to four years and one month in prison at the Christchurch District Court. Photo / NZME

By RNZ

A Christchurch man found to be possessing more than 1000 child sexual abuse publications has been sentenced to prison today.

The 59-year-old was arrested at his Merivale home in October 2021, after Customs received a referral from overseas authorities that he had been uploading objectionable material to a social media platform and cloud storage site.

Customs said a detailed forensic examination of the man’s two phones found at least 1056 objectionable publications depicting child sexual abuse.

He was sentenced to four years and one month in prison at the Christchurch District Court today.

Simon Peterson, Chief Customs Officer in the Child Exploitation Operations Team, said child sexual abuse was taken very seriously.

“Viewing and sharing child sexual abuse material feeds growing international demand for increasingly disturbing imagery of abhorrent crimes being committed against children,” he said.

“This sort of crime is not limited by international borders - and nor are we.”

The man’s sentence was a warning of the consequences awaiting those who view, download, upload or share child sexual abuse images and videos, he said.

Objectionable publications are prohibited imports and exports under the Customs and Excise Act 2018.

The maximum penalty is 10 years’ imprisonment.