Nine years in jail for sex abuse

ALower Hutt man who filmed himself sexually abusing his 8-year-old stepson has been sentenced to nine years in prison.

The 28-year-old, who has name suppression, also abused his two nieces, one of whom only realised what he’d done to her was wrong after completing a child abuse prevention programme at school.

The man appeared in the Hutt Valley District Court for sentencing yesterday afternoon, having earlier pleaded guilty to sexual violation, indecent assault, performing an indecent act, and knowingly making and possessing objectionable publications.

Some of the charges were representative, meaning the offending had happened on more than one occasion but was captured within one charge. His victims were all aged under 12, and the offending spanned more than two years. The youngest victim was just 6 when the man offended against her, the summary of facts said.

A few months after the incident, which happened last year, the girl completed the

Keeping Ourselves Safe Programme at school and realised what the man had done to her was wrong.

Police were notified and a search warrant was executed at the man’s home. His cellphone was seized and the photographs of the girl were discovered. The second victim, another niece, was aged between 9 and 11 years old when he abused her, the summary said.

The third victim, who was the girl’s cousin from the earlier incident and was also the man’s stepson, was 8 when he was abused.

Judge Arthur Tompkins said more than 2800 other images of child exploitation were found in the man’s possession.

He noted the pre-sentence report contained a “number of unfortunate comments which do not reflect well” on the man, which appeared to minimise his offending and show he had not internalised responsibility. He sentenced the man to nine years in prison and ordered the destruction of the objectionable material. A first strike warning has already been given, and the man has been added to the child sex offender register.