Man filmed sex with cow, had ‘significant’ child porn collection
HAMILTON: A Waikato farrier filmed himself having sex with a cow before later helping a horse have sex with him.
But it was Richard Colin John McNair’s ‘‘significant’’ collection of both child and bestiality pornography images which resulted in him being jailed when he appeared in the Hamilton District Court for sentencing yesterday.
The 50yearold’s offending and collecting of objectionable material was also suspected to have been going on so long that Judge Merelina Burnett declined to hand down any credit for good character and instead told him that he still didn’t seem to comprehend the seriousness of the offending after stating in his letter of remorse to the court he would ‘‘never’’ have sex with a child.
McNair lived on a farm on the outskirts of Te Aroha.
New Zealand Police’s online child exploitation unit (Oceanz) received a tipoff last year that McNair was trading in child pornography online.
An investigator posed as a collector and between June 6 and 13 last year, McNair shared 317 objectionable images as well as two videos.
A search was then carried out at his home and a multitude of devices were confiscated, including a laptop, cellphones, USB sticks, a GoPro and tablets.
On one SD card, police found 8790 images, 7554 of which depicted sexual violation of children as young as 2.
McNair was so thorough with his collection that he categorised and catalogued it all into sections; child nudity, nudism, cartoon, fantasy, bestiality and others.
Crown prosecutor Kaleb Whyte said in the end, police discovered more than 20,000 objectionable images, a collection described as ‘‘significant’’.
As for the bestiality charges, which he had earlier admitted, that offending occurred sometime between October 1, 2016, and October 1, 2017.
During that time McNair was working as a farrier on a local farm and he videoed himself having sex with a heifer.
And sometime between August 2017 and October 2017, McNair organised a miniature horse, which he then had penetrate him.
Mr Whyte said McNair was regarded as being at a high risk of reoffending and harm to others without having specialist intervention.
Mr Whyte said a previous case had regarded possession of 10,000 images as ‘‘extensive’’ and McNair’s collection was more than double that.
He submitted that although he did not have any previous convictions, he should not get credit for his previous good character given the extensiveness of his collection.
McNair’s counsel, Sheila Cameron, said he had ‘‘a deep sense of shame’’ over his offending, which could mostly be put down to his tough childhood.
He was subjected to bullying and torment by others and was also the victim of sexual abuse as a child.
He had been undergoing counselling since his arrest in October last year and diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder and avoidant personality disorder.
She described him living in ‘‘extreme social isolation’’ and he had never had an adult relationship. He had effectively destroyed his own life by the offending, which would put an end to his job working with farm animals, she said.
Judge Burnett said it was clear he still did not fully comprehend the extent of his actions by belonging to the worldwide online child pornography sharing group.
She said his conduct was probably worse because he shared images and videos of others doing exactly that.
She agreed with the Crown and declined to give him credit for previous good character, as well as handing down a minimum nonparole period of 50%.
However, she gave him credit for the work he had done in getting counselling to help him through his personal issues.
McNair was sentenced to three years and five months’ jail.