A former air force and prison service man who secretly took pictures of young girls showering was yesterday sentenced to three years and five months jail on child pornography and sex charges.
Peter Allan Moller pleaded guilty to making intimate visual recordings, multiple counts of possessing objectionable material, unlawful sexual conduct with a female under 16 and several counts of indecent acts with intent to insult or offend.
A Department of Internal Affairs inspector conversed with Moller online last year, receiving images of underage and pre-teen girls in sexually explicit poses and acts.
Moller was traced to his Hastings home where inspectors seized computer equipment containing thousands of images, many objectionable.
Many were of females he knew, with some taken in public places without their knowledge.
The 48-year-old had altered many of the images by placing the head of victims on sexual internet photos.
One victim was given a sleeping tablet before being undressed by Moller, who also exposed himself beside the victim for the camera. A police raid at his Hastings home last year found he hid a video camera in a bathroom used by teenagers, making recordings from 2009 to 2010, in his Hastings and Havelock North homes.
A mother read out her daughter's victim impact statement, saying she struggled to cope when she learned of the offending. Then 15, the now 18-year-old said she "felt like she was in a trustworthy environment" even though Moller was "a bit too cuddly".
"I now look back and see what his thoughts really were."
She was now wary of men and careful of whom she trusted.
In the Hastings District Court Judge Tony Adeane said the intimate recording offences were arguably the most serious offences and the community's view of distributing objectionable images of children was "hardening with time".
"If consumption of it is deterred and diminished, then so too will supply," he said.
Moller's sentence was lessened because of his early admission of guilt and previous good character.
Internal Affairs community safety manager Steve O'Brien said Moller's attempt to cover his tracks through encrypted computer files was fruitless.
"No matter what you do, everything's traceable on your computer and no matter how long it takes, Moller had been offending since at least 2007, you will be caught and brought before the courts," Mr O'Brien said.