An Auckland man has been jailed for six-and-a-half years for possessing, distributing and producing images of child sexual exploitation.
Photo: Supplied / Ministry of Justice
Customs started investigating the 33-year-old man in July last year, after receiving information from an overseas agency that a New Zealander had uploaded, or exported, such images to a Canadian-based messenger app.
Customs identified and searched the man's Auckland home, while he was present, and he was arrested after a formal interview where he admitted knowing the publications were illegal.
Investigators established that he had produced some of them, and linked them to the man's trip to the Philippines in 2016, where he had paid for sexual services from an underage teenage boy.
Investigators identified the video and images were produced at the hotel he had been staying at.
A forensic examination of the man's electronic devices located 14,047 objectionable publications, most of which depicted the sexual exploitation of children including infants.
The man was convicted on a raft of charges, and was sentenced in the Waitākere District Court yesterday.
Stephen Waugh from Customs said the case highlighted how a global taskforce could work to identify and combat child sexual exploitation, as well as the links between the collection of child sexual abuse material and physical abuse.
"Trading or even possessing such images and videos is a serious crime in New Zealand, and producing them takes the offending to a whole new level of severity. This case serves as a warning to travelling child sex offenders - Customs can and will prosecute for such child sexual exploitation offences," Mr Waugh said.