Napier Man Sentenced To Intensive Supervision For Distributing Child Sexual Exploitation Online
A Napier-based man in his 20's has been granted permanent name suppression and sentenced to two years intensive supervision and six months community detention. This follows his appearance at the Napier District Court on 17 June 2025, after an investigation by the Department of Internal Affairs' Digital Child Exploitation team.
The offender had earlier pled guilty to four representative charges relating to the distribution and possession of online child sexual abuse material.
He became a person of interest to the Department of Internal Affairs after they received three referrals from the US-based National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) with an email address that, through investigation, was attributed to the offender.
A search warrant was then executed at his home address where investigators located and seized two devices for further examination. Forensic analysis of the devices found movie and image files depicting child sexual exploitation and abuse with children as young as 21 months of age.
'These images capture a real crime scene. Child sexual exploitation material depicts real children who have been sexually abused and exploited for these files to be created,' says Tim Houston, Manager of the Digital Child Exploitation Team.
As part of his sentence, Judge Mackinstosh ordered the iPhone used during the offending to be forfeited and all objectionable material destroyed.
About Department of Internal Affairs' Digital Child Exploitation Team:
In 2024, the Digital Child Exploitation team conducted 69 investigations into child exploitation and helped to safeguard 14 New Zealand children from harm. Additionally, the Digital Child Exploitation Filtering System blocked over one million attempts to access websites hosting child sexual abuse material.
Support and Resources
Parents and caregivers are encouraged to engage with their tamariki about safe online practices. Advice and support for parents and caregivers on protecting their children online is available at KeepItRealOnline.govt.nz.
If you have concerns about potential online harm or wish to report a crime, contact the Digital Child Exploitation Team at DIA. For situations where abuse is occurring or a child is in immediate danger, contact the Police at 111.
Victims of child or sexual abuse crimes can access help and support services by contacting: https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/child-abuse-directory-information-and-support
Safe to Talk: 0800 044 334 Text 4334
If you are concerned about your own or someone else's sexual behaviour, please reach out for support:
Safe Network: 09 377 9898
WellStop: 04 566 4745
STOP: 03 353 0257
Stand Strong, Walk Tall
Notes:
DIA uses the term child sexual abuse imagery. The term child pornography downplays the harm of child sexual abuse.
For more information on the role of the Digital Child Exploitation Team, what is online child sexual exploitation and how to report it visithttps://www.dia.govt.nz/Preventing-Online-Child-Sexual-Exploitation
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scoop
11 hours ago
- Scoop
Pacific News In Brief For 20 June 2025
New Caledonia - cocaine The French Directorate General of Customs says 67 kilograms of cocaine has been seized in New Caledonia between April and May this year. Local media reported the operation resulted in the discovery of more than 500 kilograms of narcotics at various ports across the region. New Caledonia and French Polynesia Customs took part in a joint operation with the Australian Border Force, New Zealand Customs, the US Homeland Security Investigations and Jamaica. At the end of March this year, 142 kilograms of cocaine was seized in French Polynesia. It was found packed in insulation panels of a refrigerated container bound for Australia. Fiji - domestic violence Fiji police have reported 105 cases of family violence against women and children for May 2025. More than 200 women had crimes committed against them - 11 percent of these were sexual offences and 89 percent were assault-related. Seventy-two of those crimes were from a spouse or partner. One hundred and 14 children had crimes done against them and more than two-thirds of those were sexual offences. Five police officers were charged with offences during the month - including one facing charges of unlawful supply and import of illicit drugs. Police said there was a 14 per cent reduction in overall crime which is ahead of its 10 per cent target. Fiji - election workers The Fijian Elections Office says FJ$44,000 - about US$20,000 - in temporary worker payments from the 2018 General Election remain unpaid. FBC reported this has come to light during the Public Accounts Committee submission on the election office's 2021-2022 Audit Report. The election office's financial controller said the delay was caused by incomplete employee information for some of the 12,000 temporary election workers. The office said they are closely coordinating with the Fiji National Provident Fund to verify the remaining employee data to fast-track this process. Papua New Guinea - mining The mining company New Porgera is celebrating achieving its production targets, despite the impact of continuing lawlessness and a devastating landslide in the region. The new company, run by Barrick Gold, but with a significant PNG Government shareholding, replaced the former company after a lease dispute shut it down for more than three years. The Porgera region of Enga Province experienced the devastating Mulitaka landslide, which claimed many lives and shut the main road link out of the district. There have also been extensive law and order issues that resulted in a state of emergency being implemented, and dozens of arrests being made, many for illegal mining within the mine pit. Papua New Guinea - prisons The Papua New Guinea Correctional Service has signed an agreement with the Department of Education which will see education and training programmes rolled out in jails across the country. NBC reported that the memorandum highlights the vital role education plays in restoring dignity, instilling hope, and creating opportunities for those seeking a second chance. The rollout of structured learning and skills training within prisons is expected to transform lives behind bars. Acting corrections commissioner Bernard Nepo called the initiative a lifeline for inmates.
Otago Daily Times
a day ago
- Otago Daily Times
Scam victim ‘blessed' by free wood delivery
A Dunedin woman left in the cold after falling victim to a firewood scam is thanking an "angel" who came out of nowhere and saved the day. When Wakari resident Visha Webster was left desperate early this month after discovering all her stored firewood was soaked, she messaged a man advertising 4cum of firewood for $300. However, after about a week of back and forth, she was left empty-handed and realised she had been scammed. The scammer, who claimed he was Balclutha-based, kept promising to deliver the wood, but also kept coming up with excuses. "I told him $300 is a lot of money for me, you know, and this is not a very warm house." However, after missing another delivery, the scammer blocked her on Facebook. It was her last hope, and she was "crying her eyes out" at work over the situation, when she arrived home to find an "angel" had stepped in to save the day. Affordable Firewood Mosgiel owner Pete Thompson had delivered 4cum of firewood to her house. She cried again, but this time it was tears of relief and happiness. A tearful Visha Webster (right) hugs Affordable Firewood owner Pete Thompson and colleague Stacey Morton, for delivering free firewood to her house after she was scammed. PHOTO: STEPHEN JAQUIERY Mr Thompson said he and colleague Stacey Morton decided to help Mrs Webster after they saw a post on Facebook about the scam. "I hate that, because it gives us guys that do firewood a bad name." He even went as far as providing her with a tarpaulin to keep the wood dry. "Pete just said, 'this is not right, this time of the year for that', and dropped it off. "My husband asked me, 'why are you looking at the firewood and crying?' "I said, 'this is miracle'," Mrs Webster said. She said she forgot all about the scammer, and her feeling of loss. "The sadness from my heart was gone — I know I am being watched and cared for. I am very blessed." She said retelling the story still gave her "goose bumps". "We have these kind of people who rip you off, and then you have these kind of people who just came up from nowhere and tell you, I will help you. "Until I die, I'm going to buy firewood from them — I wished that cremation on wood was allowed in New Zealand, I would have bought from them for that too."
Otago Daily Times
2 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Rights abuses continue in North Korea: investigator
A decade after a landmark U.N. report concluded North Korea committed crimes against humanity, a U.N. official investigating rights in the isolated state says many abuses continue, exacerbated by COVID-era controls that have yet to be lifted. James Heenan, who represents the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights in Seoul, said he is still surprised by the continued prevalence of executions, forced labour and reports of starvation in the authoritarian country. Later this year Heenan's team will release a follow-up report to the 2014 findings by the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, which said the government had committed "systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations" that constituted crimes against humanity. DPRK is North Korea's official name. While the conclusions of this year's report are still being finalised, Heenan told Reuters in an interview that the last 10 years have seen mixed results, with North Korea's government engaging more with some international institutions, but doubling down on control at home. "The post-COVID period for DPRK means a period of much greater government control over people's lives and restrictions on their freedoms," he said in the interview. North Korea's embassy in London did not answer phone calls seeking comment. The government has in the past denied abuses and accused the U.N. and foreign countries of trying to use human rights as a political weapon to attack North Korea. A Reuters investigation in 2023 found leader Kim Jong Un had spent much of the COVID pandemic building a massive string of walls and fences along the previously porous border with China, and later built fences around the capital of Pyongyang. A report this week by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies said the COVID pandemic raged in North Korea for more than two years before the regime admitted in May 2022 that the virus had permeated its borders, and that the regime bungled the response in a way that violated freedoms and left most citizens to fend for themselves. On Wednesday SI Analytics, a Seoul-based satellite imagery firm, released a report noting North Korea is renovating a key prison camp near the border with China, possibly in response to international criticism, while simultaneously strengthening physical control over prisoners under the pretence of facility improvement. Heenan said his team has talked to more than 300 North Koreans who fled their country in recent years, and many expressed despair. "Sometimes we hear people saying they sort of hope a war breaks out, because that might change things," he said. A number of those interviewees will speak publicly for the first time next week as part of an effort to put a human face on the U.N. findings. "It's a rare opportunity to hear from people publicly what they want to say about what's happening in the DPRK," Heenan said. He expressed concern about funding cuts for international aid and U.N. programmes around the world, which is pressuring human rights work and threatening support for North Korean refugees. While human rights has traditionally been a politically volatile subject not only for Pyongyang but for foreign governments trying to engage with the nuclear-armed North, Heenan said the issues like prison camps need to be part of any engagement on a political settlement. "There's no point self-censoring on human rights, because... no one's fooled," he said.
