KEY POINTS:
A deputy principal who admitted downloading more than 1000 images of "horrific" child pornography onto a school laptop computer has been jailed.
Norman John Foote, 59, former deputy principal of Lytton High School, Gisborne, was jailed for 10 months when he appeared for sentence in Wellington District Court today.
Foote had earlier pleaded guilty to 20 charges under the Films, Videos and Publications Classification Act of possessing material he knew was objectionable.
The 1045 images -- which were downloaded onto a school-provided laptop -- all involved sexual abuse of children, some as young as three years old, Judge Cecilie Rushton said.
They included "horrific images of sadism and bestiality," she said.
"It would be difficult to imagine images of a more serious nature."
Judge Rushton said it must be remembered each image meant a child somewhere had been exploited and this would not happen if there were not customers wanting to download such material from the internet.
"For every image he looked at there was a tortured, raped or abused child."
Foote's was a surprising case, given his previous background and "glowing previous record", the judge said.
"You were a secondary school teacher, you were a deputy principal, you were a person held in extremely high regard by your colleagues and your school," she said.
"And yet you used the school computer at home to access these appalling images, when you yourself had young children in your care."
Foote had been warned by colleagues and his wife not to continue, but did anyway.
Defence lawyer David Sharp said Foote's fall from grace had been "very great" and had deeply affected him.
"The descent into this terrible world of pornography is something Mr Foote deeply regrets and has searched for a reason for."
At the time of the offending Foote had had a difficult two months, missing out on a promotion and he appeared to have suffered some sort of stroke which may have injured his brain, Mr Sharp said.
Judge Rushton said to Foote's credit he had resigned immediately after the offending came to light and was remorseful, ashamed and devastated by his own conduct.
He did not try to keep his name suppressed and had taken steps to address his problem.
He had plead guilty at an early stage and had led a previously blameless life, making the offending out of character.
But the number of images, the nature of them and the fact Foote used a school computer made prison the only possible sentence, Judge Rushton said.
"This was not minor offending, this was not a young person playing on the computer, this was a man of mature years who knew what he was doing."
Judge Rushton granted Foote leave to apply for home detention but stressed it was a decision for the parole board to make.
- NZPA
