Man downloaded exploitation content showing brutal violation of young children
WARNING: This story details child exploitation and may upset some readers.
A South Island father accessed thousands of child exploitation images and videos that showed “brutal violation of toddlers and infants”.
According to the summary of facts, he downloaded numerous objectionable publications in the form of child sexual exploitation material (CSEM) through an internet file-sharing platform publicly available on the internet.
Michael Sullivan was sentenced in the Alexandra District Court in November 2025 to 12 months’ home detention and 100 hours’ community work on three representative charges of possessing objectionable material.
But he couldn’t be named until now because of suppression orders.
Police say that between April 4 and October 19, 2024, he downloaded video footage, viewed it and deleted it from his devices. However, some images were stored.
The first charge related to downloading a file on August 10, 2024, which contained 21 sample videos of CSEM. The majority of the videos contained a title suggesting it related to young children.
One file is said to have contained a compilation video containing “some of the worst content on the internet, involving the brutal violation of toddlers and infants”, the summary said.
On December 17, 2024, Sullivan downloaded a file containing 34 videos of CSEM. The titles, again, suggested abuse directed at children.
Some of the titles set out in the summary suggest the images related to pre-teens.
On October 23, 2024, a search warrant was executed at his home and multiple electronic devices were seized.
Police examined a tablet, which contained 5500 images of CSEM where children were either posing nude or being sexually violated by adults.
Sullivan was sentenced by Judge Hermann Retzlaff to 12 months’ home detention, which ends in November this year, and 100 hours’ community work.
He later applied for suppression in the District Court saying naming him would cause extreme hardship to his children, but the application was declined.
He then tried to appeal that decision.
Justice Robert Osborne said the appeal, which was filed in early March, was filed four months out of time.
Defence lawyer Jacinta Grant told the High Court at Dunedin the delay was adequately explained by a material change in Sullivan’s circumstances, including the death of a relative and a deterioration in his mental health.
Crown prosecutor James Collins submitted Sullivan had experienced substantial distress from the outset of police intervention in October 2024, when the search warrant was executed.
Justice Osborne said he was satisfied issues associated with his mental health could be managed.
“I do not consider the extreme hardship threshold has been made out.”
Ultimately, Justice Osborne dismissed the application but granted interim suppression for 10 days to enable support systems to be put in place for Sullivan. That suppression has now lapsed.
Brianna McIlraith is a Queenstown-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the lower South Island. She has been a journalist since 2018 and has had a strong interest in business and financial journalism.