Director gets home detention over child porn

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A prominent Waikato businessman caught in an online child porn sting has been sentenced while still fighting to keep his identity secret.

The company director received 10 months' home detention when he appeared in the Tauranga District Court yesterday, after earlier admitting to 26 charges laid after he was caught sharing files and passwords with an undercover Department of Internal Affairs investigator.

While Judge Peter Rollo has already ordered that his name suppression be lifted, his lawyer has appealed against the decision.

The man was caught after an investigation between August and October 2010, when the investigator made contact with him under a user name and received and downloaded files from him using an application named Gigatribe. Contents of the files were too explicit for the Herald to detail.

Police and department staff executed a search warrant at the man's business address, seizing a laptop computer, external hard drives, cellphones and other storage devices.

Two folders were found to contain nearly 400 files containing explicit pictures and movies, while more material was found on DVD ROMs and laptop back-up files stored on external hard drives.

When questioned, the man admitted his Gigatribe user name was that which the investigator had contacted in a chat session.

The court had earlier heard how the man had been described as someone of good character who had contributed to his community both personally and through his business.

He had turned to pornography to assist sexual difficulties, which then led to an addiction, it was claimed.

The sentence Judge Rollo handed down came with a range of conditions which restricted him from using equipment capable of storing, transmitting or duplicating data and barred him from having involvement with anyone under the age of 16 without authorised supervision.

Judge Rollo also ordered him to pay $2000 to the SAFE Programme Trust and undergo counselling.

NABBED IN STING

* 10 months' home detention was given to a prominent Waikato businessman caught in an online child porn sting.

* 26 charges were laid after he was caught sharing files and passwords with an undercover Department of Internal Affairs investigator.

* 400 files (approximately) containing explicit pictures and movies were seized.

* $2000 donation to the SAFE Programme Trust was ordered to be paid.