Bid to test pictures law abandoned
Young women were targeted in public places around Wellington by a man with a camera covertly filming them.
Daniel Jess Moore had been in trouble before because of images he had.
Moore was caught in an international sting in 2008 led by the United States Secret Service and involving New Zealand Police and Internal Affairs. An American man he had been working with dobbed him in.
That led to him being jailed in 2010 for four years and six months for trading in child pornography and possession of objectionable material.
Most recently, Moore was charged with taking 67 ‘‘intimate’’ visual recordings in public places around Wellington, such as Oriental Bay beach and at the library.
Two charges were laid, with 36 videos covered by a charge of making an intimate visual recording, and 31 covered in a charge of doing an indecent act with intent to insult.
But after Moore pleaded guilty to both charges, a Supreme Court decision was issued that overturned a man’s conviction for taking photographs of females in bikinis at Nelson’s Kaiteriteri Beach. He had been charged as doing an indecent act with intent to insult. In light of that decision, Moore – some of whose victims also wore bikinis – considered trying to withdraw his guilty plea and fighting the charge.
But in Wellington District Court yesterday, he accepted a proposal from Judge Stephen Harrop, to sweep all the allegations into the single count of making an intimate visual recording, while setting aside the conviction on the other charge and then withdraw it.
Moore was sentenced to 13 months and two weeks’ jail. He spent so much time in custody on remand that he was due to be released immediately. The judge set conditions for the next six months, which included not being allowed to have a device with an operable camera.
The judge rejected a suggestion that Moore should be stopped from using the internet.