No conviction for pilot over bestiality films

A newly-qualified pilot who brought bestiality films into the country after his stag party in Pakistan has been granted a discharge without conviction.

Amir Mohammed had been fined $2000 in Manukau District Court after admitting bringing objectionable material into the country.

The district court judge refused to grant a discharge without conviction, saying that the gravity of the offending was "very high indeed".

But in the High Court at Auckland, Justice Judith Potter ruled that the effect on Mohammed's future career prospects was out of proportion with the offending.

Mohammed, who recently qualified as a commercial pilot at Ardmore Flying School, was stopped by Customs on his return from Pakistan on March 14 last year.

On the external hard drive of his computer a Customs officer found movie files depicting males and females having sex with dogs and horses.

Mohammed, 25, who has lived in New Zealand since the age of one, had returned to Pakistan to get married.

At the equivalent of his stag party, Pakistani friends downloaded the offending material.

Mohammed said he was disgusted and shocked by what he saw, but wanted to "fit in" with the local boys.

After the computer was turned off, he thought nothing more about the movies until he was stopped at Auckland airport.

Judge Michael Radford said in the district court that if Mohammed wanted to be an international pilot he should be more careful about travelling with material of this kind.

"You appear to have been singularly careless about safeguarding your reputation," the judge said.

However, granting a discharge without conviction, Justice Potter said Mohammed now clearly had no illusions about the inappropriateness of his conduct, and was disgusted by it.

The consequences of a conviction on his career were significant and would be out of all proportion to the gravity of the offence.

- NZPA