Elderly professor who wanted to 'caress' 13-year-old girl caught by police decoy

UK authorities alerted the New Zealand Police to the online behaviour of a New Zealand professor caught in a police sting. Stock photo / 123RF

A retired academic who told a police decoy he thought was a young girl that he wanted to "caress" her, has escaped conviction.

The senior professor sobbed out loud at the news after the decoy named "Katy" caught him sending sexual content to someone he believed was a minor.

The man, aged in his late 70s, shook visibly as he was also granted permanent name suppression in the Nelson District Court yesterday, after admitting intentionally exposing a person he believed was under 16 to explicitly sexualised material on the social media platform, WhatsApp.

The man has had what the court described as a high-profile academic career around New Zealand and overseas.

His online behaviour and what he was engaging in caught the attention of an online crime prevention authority in the United Kingdom, who then alerted the New Zealand Police.

A decoy was set up in the guise of a 13-year-old named Katy, who engaged online with the man between August 25 and September 14 last year.

During that time there were several indecent communications sent to "Katy", before he pulled back from the communication and apologised to whom he thought was a young girl.

The content included sexual references involving what he wanted to do to the girl, including caressing her, and for her to caress him.

Defence lawyer Emma Riddell said the man's loneliness and social isolation, having retired from a busy role in an overseas university, were reasons for his offending.

She said while that was no excuse, he showed insight into what he was doing was wrong.

Riddell said because of the harm caused to his partner he had done all he could since then to address the offending, including seeking support and therapy, which constituted a sentence already completed.

It was for these reasons Riddell sought a discharge without conviction and permanent name suppression, which police opposed.

Police prosecutor Chris Stringer told the court that any sexual offending was serious, and the charge carried a maximum prison term of three years, but it was considered low-level offending and there had been no direct contact with a victim.

The retired professor used online chat WhatsApp to send explicit messages to a girl he believed was only 13. Stock photo / 123RF

Judge David Ruth said it was not true to say that there was no victim, just because it was a police officer posing as a 13-year-old, because the defendant had not known that.

"The salient point here is that she told you she was 13, but on the other hand I also accept there were times when you pulled back and said sorry."

Judge Ruth also acknowledged the man's wider family, most of whom shared the same name and also held positions of authority in sectors likely to harm their careers if the man was named.

He said it was difficult to understand how such offending arose from someone of the man's age and standing, but he acknowledged it had happened at a low ebb in the man's life.

Supporting material showed he had been in therapy, which had delved into some underlying issues that led to the offending. It also showed the man was unlikely to pose any ongoing risk.

"Your post-offending behaviour shows you have done as much as the court could ask you to do.

"You have had a long and successful career as a professor and a conviction would be a real black mark by itself.

"When I look at what you did against the outcome I have reached the view that the consequences for you would be out of proportion to the offending, which is why you are discharged without conviction."

The man, who was visibly shaking beneath a checked shirt tucked neatly into his trousers, and who until that point had remained composed, began sobbing beneath his face mask as Judge Ruth also granted him permanent name suppression.

He said naming him would blemish an otherwise exemplary life.