Recidivist offender deemed risk to teen girls back behind bars after police uncover bestiality, terror attack video stash

Senior Journalist - crime and justice·NZ Herald·

24 Nov, 2021 09:58 PM6 mins to read

Kevan Beria Greer has been jailed for possessing objectionable material and selling drugs. He is a recidivist and prolific offender. Photo / 123RF

Graphic content warning - this story contains details that may be upsetting

A Christchurch man with hundreds of convictions and once deemed a risk to teenage girls because of his deviant lewd offending is back behind bars after he was caught selling drugs and with objectionable videos on his phone of the 2019 terror attack and bestiality.

Kevan Beria Greer was sentenced in the Christchurch District Court on Tuesday after earlier pleading guilty to offering to sell cannabis and Methylphenidate and possessing objectionable material.

Most of the charges were representative, which means police believe he committed multiple offences of the same type in similar circumstances.

The objectionable material charge relates to a swathe of videos found on Greer's phone, including part of the footage of the March 15 mosque attacks that the gunman livestreamed to the internet.

Within days of the attack - where 51 people were shot dead and 40 others wounded - the government classified the footage as objectionable.

Under New Zealand law, sharing and or downloading objectionable content is an offence because of the harm it can cause.

Greer admitted to possessing a clip of the video that was just over a minute long.

He also admitted possessing a video a minute and 19 seconds long of two men sitting against a wall and tied up, both partially decapitated with a chainsaw and a knife.

Packets of Ritalin and Rubifen. Greer was selling the main ingredient of these medications. Photo / NZH

On the same phone he had three videos depicting bestiality including adult men and a woman violating a chicken, dog and fish.

The material was found in September 2019 during a search warrant executed by police investigating Greer for selling drugs.

He pleaded guilty to supplying cannabis on at least 22 occasions and Methylphenidate 11 times.

Methylphenidate is the active ingredient in prescription drugs Ritalin, Rubefin and Concerta used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Ritalin and cannabis also played a part in Greer's earlier offending in where he was caught luring Christchurch schoolgirls with drugs in exchange for sexual favours.

Greer, then 45, staked out Burnside High School and tempted uniformed teenage girls into his van parked outside school where he offered them cannabis.

In return, he got the girls - aged 15 and 16 - to expose their breasts and bodies for him to photograph.

At Tuesday's sentencing Judge Tom Gilbert heard that Greer had a "traumatic" life that included "incredibly horrific" mistreatment when he was young.

Defence lawyer Todd Nicholls said the experience set Greer "on a downward spiral" and led to him getting involved with drugs and criminal offending.

Nicholls said before sentencing Greer had "opened himself up to explain the reasons of his offending" for the first timee.

"He had a very difficult childhood and he is paying the price for it," he told Judge Gilbert.

Greer struggled with depression and physical health issues that left him in "great pain".

Judge Gilbert said in court that Greer had "11 to 12 pages" of previous convictions.

But he commended the recidivist offender on engaging with the writer of a pre-sentence report and for being "drug free for the last year".

"There were adverse events in your childhood which have had a real impact on you and your life," Judge Gilbert told Greer.

"You've struggled with alcohol, and drugs have been a real issue for a number of years."

However, although that helped to understand the offending it was not an excuse for it.

He sentenced Greer to two years and five months in prison.

Greer was caught with footage of the terror attack at the Al Noor mosque in Christchurch. Photo / NZH

The Herald has reported on Greer's previous offending and unsuccessful bid for parole.

In 2013 he pleaded guilty to charges at Christchurch District Court that between January 1 and May 24, 2013, Greer "did enter into a dealing" with two girls under the age of 18 for the purpose of sexual exploitation.

He also admitted supplying cannabis, as well as three charges of possessing cannabis and the Class B controlled drugs morphine and Ritalin.

Police watched the girls enter the van, which had curtains guarding the illicit deals in the back, before they pounced on Greer.

The two teenagers admitted allowing the photographs to be taken in exchange for drugs and cigarettes.

Officers also found $14,000 stashed inside the van, as well as thousands of dollars worth of cannabis, morphine and Ritalin.

Text data recovered from Greer's cellphone established he had sold cannabis to 20 "school-age students" over a five-month period.

Justice John Fogarty sentenced Greer to four and a half years in prison.

"The long-term effects on the community of supplying cannabis to students is very serious," he said at the November 2013 hearing.

Greer was then refused early release from prison by the Parole Board in 2016 after it deemed he was still a risk to teenage girls due to his "distorted beliefs and attitudes".

At the Parole Board hearing Greer told the board that naked young girls did not sexually interest him, despite police finding 17 photographs of six females in "various stages of undress exposing their genitals or breasts" on his digital camera.

He denied selling or giving the girls drugs in return for exposing their bodies to him.

"We do not believe his denial," said the Parole Board.

"His criminal propensity to deceive is illustrated in his extensive - over 100 - fraud/deception related crimes."

The board heard that Greer had a "depressing" criminal history" of 161 convictions since 1983.

A psych report provided to the board recommended that Greer undergo intensive one-to-one counselling to gain an insight into his offending and develop a strong safety plan.