Man made girl look at his porn

A Tauranga man who groomed a young girl for his own sexual gratification has been jailed for 13 1/2 months.

Ross Alexander Mundy, 42, orchard worker, was yesterday sentenced in the High Court at Rotorua after earlier pleading guilty to various offences including making the girl, who is under 12, look at pornography on his computer.

He also pleaded guilty to inducing her to do an indecent act on him and three charges of attempting to get her to do indecent acts on or with him.

Two years ago Mundy was sentenced in the Tauranga District Court to jail for a year after admitting 40 charges involving the possession, distribution and creation of objectionable material.

The High Court heard yesterday that the five offences against the young girl were connected with the offending he was convicted of in 2004.

Tauranga Crown prosecutor Duncan McWilliam told the court that between 2001 and late 2003 Mundy exposed himself to the girl on three occasions. On one occasion he did an indecent act and at the other times he attempted to get her to do an indecent act on him but she refused.

On another occasion Mundy showed the girl pornographic images of himself, naked people, and other images of people involved in sexual acts. He asked to take a photo of her private parts and bought her purple underwear to wear and pose in for a photograph. On both occasions she refused his requests.

Justice John Priestley said this offending was triggered by the effects of looking at child pornography on his computer.

Mundy had told a probation officer that he began looking at pornography on the computer late at night and got hooked.

Justice Priestley said the impact on the victim was serious, noting the offending involved sinister connotations and a level of grooming.

As a result of what Mundy had done, the girl was nervous of older men, frightened of the dark and still carried in her mind images of what she had seen. She had low self esteem and lacked confidence in many areas.

Her counsellor said the girl's childhood innocence had been taken away from her.

Justice Priestley acknowledged Mundy's steps towards rehabilitation and said he was able to give Mundy credit for his early guilty plea.

However, Mundy still posed a significant risk and he would need to be properly managed by the authorities when he was released from jail. He was also ordered to undertake any psychological counselling recommended by his probation officer.