Tauranga man convicted of possessing extreme child exploitation material

A Tauranga man has been sentenced to seven months’ home detention and permanent name suppression after pleading guilty to two charges relating to knowingly possessing indecent material depicting child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Investigators from the Department of Internal Affairs’ (DIA) Digital Child Abuse Team were alerted by foreign law enforcement agencies to a New Zealand resident who claimed to have abused children and had access to child sexual abuse material.

The man was identified as the potential perpetrator through the investigation and a house search was conducted.

Investigators subsequently found and seized several electronic devices.

After forensic examination, the man was charged with possessing 374 images and videos depicting “horrific and extreme sexual abuse and exploitation of children,” including “very young children and infants,” the DIA said.

According to the DIA, investigators were “conducting checks” to ensure the images were not taken by the perpetrator.

Tim Houston, Digital Child Abuse Team Manager, said: “Every child deserves to feel safe, loved and cared for. No child should ever be put in this position or be re-victimised every time images of their abuse are distributed, shared or viewed.”

In 2023, the team conducted 47 investigations into child exploitation, resulting in the discovery of nearly 3 million pieces of illegal material in the possession of New Zealanders, the DIA said.

“This is in addition to the more than 1 million attempts to access websites containing child abuse material that were blocked by the Digital Child Exploitation Filtering System.”