Jail for teacher aide who groomed child with porn

A man who admitted sexually violating an 8-year-old boy and committing indecent acts against young girls was yesterday jailed for 6 1/2 years.

Larry Incledon, 47, a former teacher aide, also pleaded guilty to 20 charges under the Films, Videos and Publications Classification Act - 10 charges of distributing objectionable material and 10 charges of possessing objectionable material.

Incledon was appearing before Judge Bruce Davidson in the Wellington District Court for sentence on five representative charges against the children. The other charges were brought by the Department of Internal Affairs.

He had pleaded guilty to the earlier charges after a depositions hearing.

Crown prosecutor Tiana Epati told the court that Incledon had worked as a teacher aide at a primary school and his offending was a gross breach of trust.

It had shown a high degree of premeditation, with Incledon taking active steps to isolate his victims in the teacher aide room.

The offending took place between May and October last year, and involved the 8-year-old boy and three girls aged between 9 and 11. It was disclosed by the boy in October.

Ms Epati said computers Incledon had access to were searched at the time of his arrest, and pornographic material was found.

Further objectionable material was found when his computer at home was seized in May this year following an investigation by the Department of Internal Affairs into file-sharing.

For Incledon, Dale La Hood said the accused felt a great deal of shame and apologised to his victims, their families and the school.

Mr La Hood said the offending arose from viewing material over the internet, which had become an obsession and he then gave in to temptation.

Judge Davidson said much of the offending had taken the form of grooming. Incledon showed the boy porn, then touched him. Each of the girls had been touched inappropriately and sexual comments had been made.

The judge said the offending affected not only the children, but also their families and the wider school community.

The name of the school was suppressed.

- NZPA