Internet predator lured 14-year-old for sex

A married man with children has been convicted of sex crimes against a 14-year-old girl he met through the internet.

The Paraparaumu man admitted three representative charges that spanned the six months until he was reported to police by the girl's suspicious father late last year.

He was convicted in Upper Hutt District Court of having sexual connections with the girl, performing an indecent act and communicating with intent to meet and perform an unlawful act -- commonly known as sexual grooming.

Name suppression will lapse when he is sentenced next month. He faces a maximum of 10 years' jail.

Sergeant Neill Ford said the man contacted the girl last June in an internet chatroom where she had logged a personal file including her name and age.

Posing as a younger person called Justin to gain her confidence, he began communicating with her regularly through email and text messages, the court was told.

"At some point the defendant revealed his true identity and age to the victim, but by then he had managed to manipulate her to the point where she was besotted with him."

He arranged to meet the girl, who crept out of her parents' house late at night several times.

The pair also had sex at her home when her parents were out.

Though the man admitted to police that his actions were wrong, he gave no explanation for them.

- NZPA