Ex reported child sex files

A Nelson man found with more than a thousand child sex abuse videos and images has been sentenced to home detention.

Christopher William Quinn, 67, was sentenced to eight months’ home detention on seven charges of possessing objectionable publications, in the Nelson District Court on Tuesday. The maximum penalty on each charge is 10 years’ imprisonment.

The court heard how the offending came to light after Quinn’s ex-partner went to police after the couple separated, as she was aware of the videos and images.

Lawyer John Sandston said Quinn had gone to ‘‘special efforts to put things right’’. He had engaged in Project Restore, which specialises in restorative justice meetings for people affected by sexual harm, and had since gained an understanding of his offending.

Sandston said Quinn had been given the material by a friend. He didn’t search for it, which meant it was opportunistic offending, and he had plainly ‘‘learned his lesson that this was wrongful behaviour’’ which was ‘‘highly unlikely to happen again’’.

Sandston said Quinn also wanted to engage with the STOP programme, an intervention service for adults who have engaged in harmful sexual behaviour, but could not do so until he was sentenced.

Police searched Quinn’s home, a campervan in Richmond, last September. A computer and other electronic devices were seized, and forensic examination found 938 images and 89 videos of child exploitation material that was classed as objectionable.

The images and videos were of females aged between 10 to 14, and the material had been created on the computer between 2010 and 2017.

Judge Tony Zohrab said the only reason young people were filmed ‘‘doing terrible things to themselves’’ was because there were people like Quinn who were prepared to watch them.

‘‘These are not cartoons . . . these are real people who are being abused.’’ Judge Zohrab said a starting point of two years and three months’ imprisonment was appropriate, with a three-month discount for remorse and a six-month discount for Quinn’s early guilty plea, which resulted in a sentence of 18 months’ imprisonment.

He said the aims and objectives of sentencing could be met with a sentence of home detention, and sentenced Quinn to eight months’ home detention on each charge. Quinn will be automatically added to the child sex offender register.

‘‘These are not cartoons . . . these are real people who are being abused.’’ Judge Tony Zohrab