Thousands of sex abuse files

Child porn investigation leaders have welcomed the conviction and imprisonment of a Hastings man who had 30,000 digital files depicting exploitation and abuse.

In a media release, the Department of Internal Affairs said 24-year-old Erueti Tamatea was sentenced in Hastings District Court on Wednesday to 31⁄2 years in jail for possession and distribution of child sexual exploitation material.

He faced two representative charges after the files were discovered on his devices and cloud-based accounts. He was also heavily involved in chatting with and sharing cloud links containing child sexual exploitation material with other offenders.

DIA’s Digital Child Exploitation Team manager Tim Houston said significant inter-agency efforts were put into combating the trade of child sexual abuse material.

“The concerted effort and cooperation of DIA, Police and Customs is critical to tackling the proliferation of child abuse material and protecting children from abuse,” he said. “Possessing and trading these images encourages further abuse. Offenders want to expand their collections and so more children are abused.”

Tamatea is required to forfeit devices that could be used in such offending and will be added to the Child Sexual Offenders Register, which was established in 2016. A person stays on the register for eight years, 15 years, or for life depending on the severity of their offences.