WARNING: This story contains descriptions and language associated with child sex offending.
A New Zealand man calling himself "Kiwipedo" on the dark web has admitted trying to buy a child for $15,000 for sexual abuse and possessing 417 objectionable images just as his trial was nearing a close.
After a week of witness testimony the man, who has name suppression, pleaded guilty to two charges before Judge Allan Roberts in the Auckland District Court.
He admitted that between January 13, 2015, and February 20, 2015, he had attempted to enter into a dealing involving a person under 18 for sexual exploitation.
He also accepted that in early 2015 he was in possession of 417 objectionable images.
This week Crown witnesses had told the court the dark web is an encrypted area of the internet only reachable with special software and inside knowledge of where to go.
Within that area people can buy drugs, guns and explosives but it was also popular with individuals wanting to trade in child exploitation material, one New Zealand police officer said.
That officer, while working covertly in Australia, had messaged a username "Kiwipedo" who he said had later suggested they should "kidnap one and use a basement like Fritz".
This was understood to be a reference to the Austrian paedophile Josef Fritzl who imprisoned his own daughter in a basement and repeatedly raped her, the court heard.
That officer told the court he passed the username on to other covert investigators working in the DIA who private messaged Kiwipedo.
One investigator told the court in his conversation it was relayed Kiwipedo lived in New Zealand and was willing to pay in cash up to $15,000 or in bitcoin for a child under 7.
Would a Chinese child "cause problems at your end", the undercover investigator had asked.
He told the court he was asking if an Asian child in the household would draw suspicion.
"It's called a basement," Kiwipedo responded in another reference to Fritzl.
The same username would later communicate with another covert agent about meeting up in an Auckland motel to abuse a child.
In particular, it would need to be a ground floor room and there needed to proof of life, Kiwipedo allegedly specified.
The profile also asked if they should swap some USBs for their respective collections.
The accused has been on trial this week in the Auckland District Court. Photo / File
Investigators then used a tracing tool to find the relevant computer in Auckland in mid-2015, where they executed a search warrant.
The Herald and other media are prevented from revealing exactly how the man behind the name Kiwipedo was caught in the sting due to strict suppression orders.
The accused was read his rights and asked: "Do you know why we are here today?"
"No idea," he replied.
He was asked if he used the internet in general on the premise.
The defendant said he did all his "personal stuff" there, including downloading movies.
He told the investigator he had browsed Silk Road - an online black market - "back in the day" but had deleted it long ago.
Another search warrant was executed and the Crown found evidence of 417 objectionable images on a hard drive.
International bid to stop child exploitation
Sadly, the case is just one of many to be heard in New Zealand courts during the past few years about international forces collaborating to hunt out instances of child exploitation.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation, one of the New Zealand police's major partners in identifying child exploitation, found a former North Shore community board chairman paying for access to live child sex shows.
In September 2017, police seized three devices from Martin Lawes' home and when the computers were searched by New Zealand Customs, dozens of objectionable publications were found.
Martin Lawes, pictured at his sentencing in 2018. Photo / Greg Bowker
The US National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children also identified an IP address of concern on Waiheke in 2017 which led them to Thomas Moroney, the Herald revealed.
In September 2015, US Homeland Security contacted the Online Child Exploitation Across New Zealand police unit (Oceanz) with concerns about a Canterbury link to a global paedophile syndicate on the dark net.
Christchurch man Drew Webb was found to be orchestrating the group and importing and distributing images and films of children being abused, included toddlers and babies.
Thirty-one children, some as young as 2, were rescued in 2017 from the massive child sex network.
And last year the Herald revealed the sickening case of Auckland man Earl Reyes who paid $80 to sexually abuse a child in a Manila hotel room. He also distributed videos of the crimes on social media channels, while more than 14,000 objectionable images were later found on his computers.
He was sentenced to six years and five months' imprisonment.
