Remuera octogenarian jailed after ‘unprecedented volume’ of child abuse material uncovered
A Remuera octogenarian has been handed a three-year jail term after admitting 15 charges related to possessing nearly 200,000 child abuse files across 15 devices.
However, the sentence was immediately appealed, and he has been released on bail pending a new hearing.
The graphic material was of an “unprecedented volume”, according to the prosecutor, and police were unable to catalogue the man’s abuse “collection” due to its size.
While the retired professional in his 80s failed in his bid to avoid a jail sentence, his lawyer Nathan Gibson successfully argued he should be granted permanent name suppression.
The reason for the name suppression order is also suppressed.
Auckland District Court Judge Andrea Manuel said at the man’s sentencing last Friday that no one “wants to sentence an elderly gentleman to a term of imprisonment”, but she told the court she must abide by the law.
She described the summary of facts as “disturbing”, and chose not to go into details, but said one child sexual abuse video showed a toddler in “pain or distress”.
Judge Manuel said the defendant used a “peer-to-peer” sharing platform, so his conduct wasn’t “passive” and he directly contributed to the wider circulation of material.
The prosecution had argued for a seven-year sentence starting point, while the defence sought a four-year start.
“It’s quite the gap,” Judge Manuel said.
Possessing objectionable material carries a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment.
While the defendant had no previous criminal convictions, Judge Manuel said he had received a discharge without conviction in 2006 for two male assaults female charges.
She gave the defendant a six-year starting point before considering discounts.
The only discount the defence and prosecution agreed on was a 25% reduction for his guilty plea.
Gibson had sought an 88% discount on the sentence, which would have resulted in a term of home detention.
However, prosecutor Rose Allison said just the 25% discount was appropriate.
“How can the defence submit 88% discount should apply when generally they do not exceed 40%? Well, let me explain,” Judge Manuel said.
She said his offending occurred before sentencing legislation was amended last year to cap total personal mitigating sentence discounts at 40%, so a higher potential discount was available.
Judge Manuel granted the man a 25% discount for his plea, 5% for his remorse and rehabilitation, 5% for his contribution to his profession and a 15% discount for his age and infirmity.
This resulted in three years’ jail.
Gibson immediately sought bail pending appeal, which Allison opposed but was granted.
Allison had earlier argued that a home-based sentence would be “manifestly inadequate” given the volume and nature of the files.
She said the defendant accepted that between December 2022 and April 2023 he downloaded more than 190,000 pieces of objectionable material.
She submitted it was an “exceptionally large” collection.
Allison told the court it was a serious case due to its volume, and nature.
“This isn’t an ordinary possession.”
Gibson, however, said this was an “exceptional case that warrants an exceptional outcome”.
He said 80% of the nearly 200,000 files fell into category B, which meant most of the content was not in the most serious category, A.
However, Judge Manuel was not moved by this argument.
“When I look at the sheer numbers [of category A content] compared to other cases, they’re still overwhelming.”
Gibson also submitted that there was no evidence his client had organised the content within the 15 hard drives.
He said his client was a man in his 80s, on the computer at home during a Covid lockdown, “pressing download and ending up with the volume of material that he has”.
“Prison would fall harder on a man like [the defendant].”
Katie Harris is an Auckland-based journalist who covers issues such as sexual assault, workplace misconduct, media, crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2020.
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