Man had child sex abuse images
A man’s stash of child sex abuse images was only discovered when police arrested him for drug-affected driving.
Tristan Abraham, 30, was jailed in May for dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and driving while under the influence of drugs, but it wasn’t until later that police uncovered his fixation with child abuse images.
Abraham pleaded guilty in the Palmerston North
District Court on
Tuesday to a charge of possessing objectionable material after his cellphone was found to contain nine images of children either nude or performing sex acts.
Police searched his car after a collision earlier this year and found eight photographs of girls, aged 9-13, naked or posing in a sexual way.
‘‘Victims must live with knowledge that images will continue on the internet for the sexual gratification of strangers forever.’’ Judge Stephanie Edwards
The other photograph showed a 10-yearold girl performing a sex act on an adult male.
Judge Stephanie Edwards said child sex abuse images were illegal in New Zealand to protect the ‘‘sexual safety’’ of children.
Production of this material involved the exploitation of vulnerable children for commercial gain. Those who downloaded it fuelled future exploitation.
‘‘The seriousness of this type of offending must not be minimised,’’ the judge said.
‘‘Victims must live with knowledge that images will continue on the internet for the sexual gratification of strangers forever.’’
Abraham was due to be released from prison on October 23 on the driving charges, but now faces sentence for his latest offending later this year.