A spokesperson for the police told the Herald the activity was related.
“While police held some concerns around the online behaviour detailed at the time, no criminal offending was identified and no charges were laid.”
Despite no charges being laid, the spokesperson confirmed police had spoken with and cautioned the man – and they are also monitoring him.
“If offending is identified, the police will hold the person to account for their actions.”
A former Facebook community page moderator told the Herald he was aware of the man offering free tickets to movies, Rainbows End and even motel rooms in exchange for “free gunging”.
In messages seen by the Herald, the man asks a woman if her child is “keen to do the goo” in exchange for a free Zorb and Sky Swing before asking if they want to “do it by tank or by bucket”.
The moderator, who wanted to remain anonymous, told the Herald the man has been active since around 2015.
“I have warnings all over social media...I always tell the parents to report it to the police immediately as he’s well known to them.
“I think he’s a danger. It’s progressive behaviour in my opinion.”
How parents can protect their kids
Sean Lyons, a spokesperson for Netsafe, told the Herald he was aware of the activity, and other similar cases.
“Often when people ask me about the strangest things [I’ve seen] I use this. There was a kind of spate [of this kind of activity] pre-Covid.”
“It seems bizarre and depending on how you interpret, it almost seems innocuous, but I don’t think it is.”
Lyons said the behaviour has “all the hallmarks” of grooming for nefarious purposes.
Grooming is when an adult engages with a young person or child and tries to build a relationship for the purposes of exploitation – usually sexual.
Some people will pose as a child, or as someone with shared interests to the young person and others may offer gifts or money.
“I’m not saying that is what this person is doing, but I’m saying for a warning flag to parents it has the hallmarks of that kind of activity.”
Willow Duffy, the chief executive of Safeguarding Children – a charity which focuses on helping prevent abuse and neglect, says the man’s behaviour is “very concerning”.
This week is Child Safeguarding Week in New Zealand – and Duffy says one of the best ways parents can protect their children is to encourage them to treat the online world in the same way they would treat the real one.
“In real life, you wouldn’t let your children go and engage with a stranger and also, if you look at the way children interact with strangers in the real world, they would check with their parents first.”
Duffy said people who wish to harm children are “highly manipulative”.
“They’re constantly changing the ways in which they gain access to children, so by learning more about it and trying to keep up with what they’re doing, and the intentions that they have, the strategies that they can use is crucial.”
Safeguarding Children currently has a website running for Child Safeguarding Week which is full of resources and education for parents who are concerned about abuse and neglect.
“We provide training and education for people who work with children, people who volunteer with children and the whole community as well. Our charity is totally aimed at preventing child abuse and that’s our mission and that’s what we’re determined to do.”
The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) is also aware of the case.
Jared Mullen, the director of digital safety for the DIA, told the Herald the behaviour can escalate if it is not nipped in the bud.
“Offenders often pose as other children online and once they receive sexual imagery from the child they can extort and blackmail the child into sending more, and often more graphic content, to them through threats of exposing the child’s activity to family members and friends.”
Lyons said the most important thing parents can do is to educate their children about safe and unsafe communications online.
“You’re talking about an environment where often the young person you’re trying to track is more experienced in the online spaces than the parent is so it’s not a question of surveillance.
“It’s about the ability to talk to young people generally about the kind of risks that might be involved. What do these situations look like, and what they might become.”
He advised parents to educate their children to see these approaches for what they are – unsolicited approaches from a stranger.
“It’s a nuisance and it’s harmful.”
Vita Molyneux is a Wellington-based journalist who covers breaking news and stories from the capital. She has been a journalist since 2018 and joined the Herald in 2021.
