Recidivist sex offender jailed

A HIGHRISK sex offender downloaded child pornography despite being under the spotlight of the Corrections department, a court has heard.

When John Alexandra Trower (aka McCreath) was released from prison in 2013 and an Extended Supervision Order (ESO) was imposed on him for 10 years — the maximum allowed timeframe for the monitoring.

Orders are sought by Corrections only for highrisk sex offenders who have completed jail terms and it allows the department to place restrictions on the person’s activities and contact with others.

In more significant instances, as was the case with Trower, offenders can be GPS monitored.

On July 10 last year, it was that which caught out the 30yearold.

The monitoring team contacted authorities after noting Trower entered the grounds of St Hilda’s Collegiate at 6.53pm.

He left a minute later but loitered outside until 6.58pm.

Trower told Corrections he had been there with a friend and they had simply smoked a cigarette outside the school grounds.

But Judge Michael Crosbie said there was a potentially more sinister interpretation.

‘‘It might be seen you were casing out the school and making yourself familiar with an environ ment where children would be.’’

One of Trower’s ESO conditions was: ‘‘not to frequent schools, parks, skateboard parks playgrounds or other public places where children under 16 are likely to congregate for sport, entertainment or education’’.

Two months later, the defendant was in trouble again.

Police arrived at his Dunedin home unannounced and immediately found spotting knives used in the consumption of cannabis on the man’s bed.

A more rigorous search located 0.5gm of the classC drug in a tissue on the floor.

Trower’s ESO also barred him from possessing or using illicit substances.

More worryingly, officers then found a Huawei cellphone, which was given to the police’s electronic crime lab for analysis.

They found Trower had been using the device to access the internet for more than three weeks and they uncovered 27 objectionable images cached.

Five of those images featured penetrative sexual acts between children and adults, the Dunedin District court heard yesterday.

One of the websites Trower had browsed contained advertise ments for abuse images of children as young as 6.

Investigators also noted the defendant had used the search term ‘‘dad and daughter’’.

Cellphone data showed just hours before police seized the phone, Trower had set up a Facebook account and contacted a female.

In total, he pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing objectionable publications, three of breaching his ESO, possessing cannabis and possessing utensils.

‘‘You have demonstrated that management of you is very, very difficult,’’ Judge Crosbie said.

‘‘You have demonstrated you don’t have control.’’

He noted Trower had been assessed as a medium to high risk of committing further sexual offences.

His ESO would be suspended while he served a twoyear prison term and would resume as soon as he was released.

‘‘The management of your life for the rest of your life is about managing your risk,’’ the judge said.

❛ It might be seen you were casing out the school and making yourself familiar with an environment where children would be ❜