Mosque video offender jailed

A mosque video offender was jailed for 15 months – but mainly for four driving while disqualified offences, including his 11th.

Name suppression was also lifted on Connor Jamie Huntley, 22, at his sentencing by Judge Stephen O’Driscoll in the Christchurch District Court yesterday.

He had admitted charges of possession of objectionable material – the live-streamed video of the March 15 mosque attacks and the ‘‘great replacement’’ manifesto published on the internet by the alleged shooter.

Huntley told police he did not agree with the Government’s censorship of the material.

‘‘I believe that under the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act, I have the right to have [the video and manifesto] on me and to review it and make my own decision on the content of it,’’ he told them.

Defence counsel Clare Yardley asked for Huntley to be given one further chance in the community, but the judge said he had been given chances with intensive supervision at his last two sentencings and both had failed.

Judge O’Driscoll did grant him leave to apply for home detention at some point during his jail sentence. Yardley said Huntley had already served four months in custody on remand after his arrest soon after the March 15.

Huntley was sentenced in Ashburton on September 29 for his 8th,

9th, and 10th charges of driving while disqualified. He admitted an

11th offence, committed in February. He was originally charged with distributing the mosque video but the Crown dropped that charge.

Yardley described Huntley as ‘‘troubled and wayward’’ but said she had always found him helpful and engaging. ‘‘And yet in the (presentence) reports he comes across as anti-authoritarian and unwilling to participate in terms of assistance,’’ she said.

Judge O’Driscoll also ordered Huntley to take part in counselling and programmes as directed.