Bay of Plenty man admits possessing 100 child pornography images

A Bay of Plenty man who has admitted possessing child pornography is fighting to keep his name secret. Photo / File

A Bay of Plenty man who has pleaded guilty to having 100 objectionable images of children and young people in sexualised poses is fighting to keep his name secret.

The man, who has interim name suppression, has pleaded guilty in the Rotorua District Court to a charge of possessing objectionable material.

The charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years' imprisonment or a $50,000 fine.

The man previously pleaded guilty to the charge but the case was called again in the Rotorua District Court this week when the details of the police's summary of facts were confirmed.

The summary has now been released to the Rotorua Daily Post, although media are still prevented from naming the man or releasing any details about him.

The summary said police executed a search warrant at the man's house and found the objectionable material. An analysis of the man's laptop identified 100 objectionable images.

The images promoted and supported the exploitation of children or young people for sexual purposes and all images showed children and young people in sexualised poses, the summary said.

Twenty-eight of the 100 images were classified by the Office of Film and Literature and confirmed to be objectionable material.

The summary said the man declined to comment to police.

The man's lawyer, Andy Schulze, told Judge Greg Hollister-Jones this week his client wanted to apply for a discharge without conviction under section 106 of the Sentencing Act 2002.

This is a legal process that can occur if a person is found guilty or pleads guilty and means the charge is proved but it is treated as an acquittal and no conviction is entered on a person's record.

Schulze said if successful, the man's name suppression application would run alongside that.

The police opposed the application and Judge Greg Hollister-Jones said the outcome "was not a given".

Judge Hollister-Jones remanded the man to appear in court for sentencing on April 8.