KEY POINTS:
A big discount on the prison term for a recidivist child porn sex offender has disappointed a lobby group campaigning to protect children.
Stephen John Laing, 25, a computer technician from Massey, was jailed by Judge Phil Recordon in Waitakere District Court today for five years on 56 representative charges of possessing and distributing child porn, including photographs of babies only a few weeks old and four-year-old girls being raped.
The judge said the starting point for the distribution charges was seven and a half years but Laing would get a two-and-a-half year discount for his early guilty plea.
He was charged after his house was raided and thousands of photographs and movies were found on his computer. As he awaited bail on similar offences last year he continued to offend and in court today he was sentenced on two series of offences.
However, the court also heard the charges for which he was sentenced today were the third and fourth series of similar charges.
He was sentenced in 2003 to two years of supervision, 350 hours of community work and fined. In 2005 he was jailed for a year.
In court today Judge Recordon said the starting point for the possession charges was three years but that was reduced to two years and three months.
Outside court Denise Ritchie from the Stop Demand Foundation, which campaigns to stop sexual abuse of children, said with all the evidence it was difficult for Laing to plead anything other than guilty.
She said after nearly 3000 photographs of child abuse and more than 50 videos were found when Laing was offending on bail waiting to be sentenced on previous offences, he had no choice but to plead guilty.
Giving him credit for the guilty plea was a real concern, she said.
"It is not justified," she said.
"They are all sorry once they get caught but the fact that they continue to do it, you have to question how genuine that remorse is and that regret."
The court heard today Laing was one of the worst child porn offenders because of his "recidivist and brazen" nature.
Some of the pictures showed children only a few weeks old being raped and it indicated significant depravity.
Attempts at rehabilitation had failed. Laing was expelled from a programme for sex offenders because he continued to offend while he had treatment.
The charges were laid after Canadian police told New Zealand authorities a New Zealander was advertising on an internet group devoted to people interested in child sexual abuse.
In court, prosecutor Phil Hamlin said Laing did not simply trade in objectionable material, he went further by initiating the creation of new publications which encouraged further sexual abuse of vulnerable young children.
During an on-line chat with similar offenders, he asked the person to write a message on the baby's nappy and in another on-line chat he asked for a picture of a toddler holding a customised message for him.
For Laing, Hugh Leabourn said he accepted his guilt but likened his offending to an illness.
The judge said he accepted Laing's remorse was genuine.
Laing nodded as the judge said he wanted the buzz but also felt very guilty about his conduct afterwards.
Department of Internal Affairs deputy secretary, Keith Manch, said it was the stiffest sentence yet for a collector and distributor of child porn and must be a lesson for all offenders.
He said the previous heaviest sentence was 3-1/2 years in jail for a Waikato man in October, 2005, after Parliament increased the penalties.
He said Laing's continued offending indicated "significant depravity" in a despicable trade.
The department had a dedicated team of inspectors tracking down offenders in a worldwide fight against child porn.
"So people like Laing must realise that they will be caught, because no matter what they do, everything is traceable on the computer," Mr Manch said.
- NZPA
