Tokoroa child sex offender jailed for ‘objectionable’ material
Benn Bathgate
A registered child sex offender who is “noted for targeting solo parents to gain access to children” is heading back to prison after being jailed for possession of objectionable material, which a judge said was “towards the upper end of objectionable”.
Kelvin Bush was jailed for one year and nine months at Tokoroa District Court yesterday after earlier pleading guilty to three representative charges of possessing objectionable material.
The Waikato Times had earlier revealed that Bush, 49, who used the name ‘Freakazoid719’ online, had 137 previous convictions.
You create the market ... and when they make these things they seriously harm the children involved.’’
Judge Tony Couch
Bush was caught after the Department of Internal Affairs Child Exploitation Team received a referral from the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, based in the United States, that he had uploaded objectionable child sexual abuse images.
“As required I have viewed examples of the movie files and the images,” said sentencing Judge Tony Couch.
“Very clearly Category A and in my experience towards the upper end of objectionable.”
Bush had 29 Category A files – deemed the most serious as these depict sexual conduct between an adult and a child.
Judge Couch also hit out at the lack of insight Bush had shown into his offending.
“He seems to think it doesn’t matter what he watches on a screen. It doesn’t affect those involved in the making of it,” he said. “Fundamentally wrong.”
He told Bush this was not victimless crime. “The original creation of each image, particularly Category A, caused immediate and serious harm to the children involved,” he said.
“By creating a market for such material offenders such as you incentivise ...
‘‘You create the market ... and when they make these things they seriously harm the children involved.”
Bush’s lawyer Andrew Allerton told the court his client struggled with reading and writing and had been unable to produce a remorse letter as “none of the other inmates would assist”.
He also argued Bush deserved the full credit for early guilty pleas, something Judge Couch pushed back on, saying he avoided Court summons and had “left Tokoroa in haste”.